The Clap
The Ministry of Finance issued new decisions aiming to facilitate import procedures at ports and ease the burdens on investors.
The Decisions
The Ministry of Finance said that it would exempt importers from customs fines. The many procedures tend to cause delay in the completion of customs clearance, due to the documents required from various authorities.
In addition to that, the decisions also included that there be a period of 4 months for food commodities and 6 months for non-food commodities, before being classified as “neglected.”
What is Classified as Neglected?
Commodities that have been left for longer than the specified period are classified as neglected and customs can deal with them as they wish.
Background
Egypt obligated importers to work using documentary credits, instead of collection documents, before President Sisi eased these restrictions on production requirements and raw materials.
Why this Matters
Ahmed Shiha, a member of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said that everyone is waiting for the next step and expects that the procedures go back to using collection documents again instead of documentary credits.
Government to ease importing procedures 🛩
