Saudi customs authority shares best practice knowledge at Sea Asia 2023 exhibition

Saudi Arabia’s customs authority showed off the tools it has used to get clearance time at the Kingdom’s borders to just two hours during an industry event in Singapore.

The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority participated in the Sea Asia 2023 exhibition, which specializes in marine industries and products, and presents commercial opportunities in transport and maritime shipping, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The event played host to nearly 15,000 international participants, as well as more than 400 exhibitors representing over 70 countries.

During its participation in the exhibition, ZATCA reviewed the customs services it provides and the solutions related to facilitating trade.

According to the SPA: “ZATCA’s participation emanates from its keenness to enhance communication with stakeholders in events, exhibitions, and conferences specialized in the areas of zakat, tax, and customs, and to meet with counterparts in other countries to exchange experiences.

“Its participation also reveals its role in strengthening the logistics sector in the Kingdom through its customs services, and its ambition to achieve the Kingdom’s vision to become a global logistics platform.”

ZATCA’s achievements in reducing customs clearance times were revealed by a top official at a conference organized by the authority in February.

Ammar Al-Salami, director general of the customs operations department, said the department had overseen an 84 percent drop in processing time by the end of 2022.

“We started in 2021 in January with about 13 hours (custom-clearance time) to end up with about two hours for clearance in 2022,” the director general said.

Back in 2017, customs clearance used to take around 12 days, Al-Salami added. He went on to explain that the clearance within the two-hour initiative is directly linked to the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 blueprint.

Moreover, the number of documents required for import has also been reduced to two, down from 12.