The Importers Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) have called for a three-month extension to be given on the deadline associated with the Advance Cargo Information (ACI) system for pre-registration of shipments.
Speaking on the division’s behalf, Ahmed Al-Mallwani, Head of the Foreign Trade Committee, said that this would allow for all problems to be carefully studied.
It would also guarantee the system’s greater success rate, provided that the experimental pre-registration continues in the same framework as previously.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait issued a ministerial decision on the implementation procedures regarding the Egyptian Customs Authority’s new digital platform, which goes live later this year.
The minister said that shipping companies will be required to send information about their cargo electronically to the platform, which was launched experimentally on 1 April, and which will be mandatorily applied from 1 July 2021.
The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, headed by Ahmed Al-Wakeel, organised a meeting including the Office of the Importers Division headed by Hamdy El-Naggar, and representatives of Misr Technology Services (MTS) company.
El-Naggar said that the aim of the meeting was to create joint cooperation in working to solve the obstacles that importers face. It aims to solve all problems for one-stop-shop and improve the customs system.
Al-Mallwani stressed the importance of the state’s approach to reducing time for release of goods, and the use of digital systems to comply with the corresponding global systems.
He reviewed a memorandum containing three notes and a number of proposals after El-Naggar’s. The first note stated that the Minister of Finance and the Egyptian Customs Authority should have issued a detailed list of all steps under the ACI, whilst the second note is related to the trial period specified.
Al-Mallwani noted that the trial period is currently too short, and requires a longer period as there are shipments that take a long time to arrive.
The third note mentioned that the responsible authorities did not specify how to deal with the real problems that importers face, and which are likely to occur with the start of the new system’s application.
