GCC Customs Union Valdone Kasperiuniene 1 Definition of Customs Union • A customs union shall be understood to mean the substitution of a single customs territory for two or more customs territories, so that •(i) duties and other restrictive regulations of commerce are eliminated with respect to the trade between the constituent territories of the union, and •(ii) the same duties and other regulations of commerce are applied by each of the members of the union to the trade of territories not included in the union (See full definition in Article XXIV.8(a) of the GATT) 2 GCC Customs Union • The Supreme Council, in its 23rd Session held in Qatar ( 21 22 December 2002), approved the launch of the Customs Union of the GCC States as of 1st January 2003 3 Principles and Concept of the Customs Union of the GCC States • Customs Union is the territory wherein customs duties "taxes" as well as the regulations and procedures restricting trade among the member States are abolished and wherein unified customs duties "taxes" and trade and customs regulations for trade with the nonmember States are implemented. 4 The GCC customs union’s principles (I) • Common External Customs Tariff for products imported from outside of the GCC customs union • Common Customs Law • Unified customs regulations and rules applicable in all Member States • Free movement of goods among the GCC States 5 The GCC customs union’s principles (II) • Treatment of the goods produced in any of the GCC States as national products • Unification of the internal customs, financial and administrative regulations and procedures relating to importation, exportation and re-exportation in the GCC States. 6 Single Point of Entry into the GCC States • Any land, sea or air customs port of the GCC States that has connection with the external world shall be deemed as a point of entry of the foreign goods into any Member State. • Abolishment of the transit of goods among the member States 7 Single Point of Entry • Procedures applied at first points of entry should not be repeated at intra-GCC borders, as the role of customs offices at Intra-GCC borders shall be limited to completing the procedures that were not completed at the first point of entry. 8 Single point of entry • Intra GCC customs offices shall allow passage of the foreign goods transported from the markets of one member state to the other member States against presentation of the local invoices and the statistical declaration relating to such goods. • National products shall be allowed to move freely among the member States accompanied by their local invoices and statistical declaration. 9 Collection of Customs revenues • Customs duties are collected at the first customs point of entry of the GCC States. • The shares of the member States of the customs proceeds shall be distributed according to the final destination of the goods. 10 Customs and statistical declarations • The customs declaration approved within the framework of the GCC States shall be used for the purposes of redistributing and clearing the customs revenues among member States • The customs declaration for statistical purposes shall be completed by the owner of the goods or his representative and shall be approved by the exit customs office, to be accompanied by the local invoices indicating the actual value of the goods and their country of origin 11 Impact of Customs Union on statistical data Excluded from ETS Excluded from ETS Customs seals+ copy of IM Decl. CD +Customs Duties paid Included into ETS Custom Imports decl. Statistical IM+EX declarations 12 Further integration of GCC Customs Unions • Monetary union • Wider Single market • Abolishment of any intra-Union customs control • Abolishment of intra-Union statistical/customs declarations. 13
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