Press Release
On Thursday 5th of February, Egypt has participated in the meetings of Customs’ heads of COMESA member states
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• An Egyptian worksheet on Common Customs Law and Foreign Trade Tariff for COMESA.
On Thursday 5th of February, Egypt has participated in the meetings of Customs’ heads for COMESA member states.
Head of Customs Authority, Dr. Magdy Abdel Aziz, declared that during the meetings Egypt presented a worksheet prepared by both ministries of Finance and Industry and Foreign Trade regarding the files that shall be discussed aiming to accelerate establishment of Customs Union for COMESA member states, assumed to be entered into force since June 2014, however there were three outstanding files: adoption of a Common Customs law for COMESA member states, which is already completed, as well as adoption of the Common Classification of goods, Common Foreign Tariff of goods and commodities imported from other countries rather than COMESA member states.
He said that such worksheet determines Egypt’s executive situation concerning applying requirements of establishing Customs Union for COMESA. He noted that it will be drafted after a joint meeting of Minister of Finance, Hany Kadry, and Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade and SMEs, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour. Deputy to Minister of Finance for information technology, Atef El Fekky, Adviser to Minister for Customs affairs, Adely Abdel Razek, Head of Customs Authority, Dr. Magdy Abdel Aziz, General director of technical office in head of Customs Authority’s office, Dr. Ahmed Hassanein participated in the joint meeting on behalf of Ministry of Finance. Adviser to Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Sayed El Bous, Adviser to Minister for Trade Affairs, Sayed Abo Al-Komsan, head of trade agreements and foreign trade sectors, Saeed Abdullah participated in this joint meeting on behalf of Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade.
Concerning Customs law for COMESA, the national committee reviews the study presented by the Secretariat titled “Analysis of the National Gap with the Executive Work Plan- an outlook of the Egyptian Customs Law”. The study concluded that there are some articles in the Egyptian local customs law that may be incompatible with the Common Customs law for COMESA; however some articles in other domestic laws, e.g. penalties law, may bridge the gap between the laws being considered.
Regarding the articles that differ from the Common Customs Law for COMESA, he mentioned that they are still studying how to make them compatible. As well as the Egyptian Customs Authority will issue a new Customs law to fill the gap between both laws mentioned above. In this context and according to the 30th meeting of trade and customs committee, and the cabinet decision in its 33rd meeting regarding the necessity of promulgating a Common Customs law in all official languages including Arabic language, the Egyptian part reconfirms on the importance of implementing such decree to finalize the study of compatibility requirements of Common Customs Law for COMESA with Domestic Customs Law.
Concerning the Common Customs Tariff, he explained that COMESA member states suggest a Customs Tariff exempting the capital goods and raw materials from Customs fees, while imposing a tariff ratio of 10% on intermediary goods, 25% on finished goods, rather than the applied Customs Tariff in Egypt whereas their categories range between (0- 5- 2- 10- 30 %). He mentioned that Customs Authority prepared an analytical study of such variations showing a considerable overlap of goods listed in COMESA categories and the Egyptian one; whereas COMESA imposes a tariff ratio of 10% on 85 goods which are fully exempted from Customs fees in Egypt, also Egypt imposes a tariff ratio of 2% on 200 goods against 10% imposed by COMESA, 417 goods are subject to 5% against 10% in COMESA, so that the percentage of Customs tariff on such goods cannot be increased, especially they are production requirements. As well as COMESA impose 25% on 211 goods which are fully exempted from Customs fees in Egypt or subject to the category of 2%.
He said that the Egyptian worksheet clarifies Egypt’s reservations on the current structure of the suggested Common Tariff for COMESA, in particular the suggestion of COMESA secretariat to list the goods that subject to a tariff ratio of 2% and 5% in sensitive and exempted goods in the agreement provisions. In addition, there are problems related to the necessity of increasing Customs Tariff Categories on some goods and decreasing the tariff on others to be compatible with the COMESA tariff which contradicts Egypt’s obligations in the World Trade Organization (WTO), beside the impact of such negative procedures on competitiveness of Egyptian products in foreign markets, consumer prices and Customs proceeds. In the context of common classification of goods, the domestic categories of the Egyptian Customs Tariff Schedule; i.e. 211 categories, had been listed in the COMESA Tariff Schedule.
He indicated that the Egyptian situation is not significantly different from the situation of other states in COMESA that have reservations on the Common Customs Law and Tariff, such issue will be discussed during the meetings to reach the best compatible formula of these files, then it will be presented to Ministers of Finance and Trade in COMESA to be adopted in their coming meetings.
(Source: Ministry of Finance)
On Thursday 5th of February, Egypt has participated in the meetings of Customs’ heads for COMESA member states.
Head of Customs Authority, Dr. Magdy Abdel Aziz, declared that during the meetings Egypt presented a worksheet prepared by both ministries of Finance and Industry and Foreign Trade regarding the files that shall be discussed aiming to accelerate establishment of Customs Union for COMESA member states, assumed to be entered into force since June 2014, however there were three outstanding files: adoption of a Common Customs law for COMESA member states, which is already completed, as well as adoption of the Common Classification of goods, Common Foreign Tariff of goods and commodities imported from other countries rather than COMESA member states.
He said that such worksheet determines Egypt’s executive situation concerning applying requirements of establishing Customs Union for COMESA. He noted that it will be drafted after a joint meeting of Minister of Finance, Hany Kadry, and Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade and SMEs, Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour. Deputy to Minister of Finance for information technology, Atef El Fekky, Adviser to Minister for Customs affairs, Adely Abdel Razek, Head of Customs Authority, Dr. Magdy Abdel Aziz, General director of technical office in head of Customs Authority’s office, Dr. Ahmed Hassanein participated in the joint meeting on behalf of Ministry of Finance. Adviser to Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Sayed El Bous, Adviser to Minister for Trade Affairs, Sayed Abo Al-Komsan, head of trade agreements and foreign trade sectors, Saeed Abdullah participated in this joint meeting on behalf of Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade.
Concerning Customs law for COMESA, the national committee reviews the study presented by the Secretariat titled “Analysis of the National Gap with the Executive Work Plan- an outlook of the Egyptian Customs Law”. The study concluded that there are some articles in the Egyptian local customs law that may be incompatible with the Common Customs law for COMESA; however some articles in other domestic laws, e.g. penalties law, may bridge the gap between the laws being considered.
Regarding the articles that differ from the Common Customs Law for COMESA, he mentioned that they are still studying how to make them compatible. As well as the Egyptian Customs Authority will issue a new Customs law to fill the gap between both laws mentioned above. In this context and according to the 30th meeting of trade and customs committee, and the cabinet decision in its 33rd meeting regarding the necessity of promulgating a Common Customs law in all official languages including Arabic language, the Egyptian part reconfirms on the importance of implementing such decree to finalize the study of compatibility requirements of Common Customs Law for COMESA with Domestic Customs Law.
Concerning the Common Customs Tariff, he explained that COMESA member states suggest a Customs Tariff exempting the capital goods and raw materials from Customs fees, while imposing a tariff ratio of 10% on intermediary goods, 25% on finished goods, rather than the applied Customs Tariff in Egypt whereas their categories range between (0- 5- 2- 10- 30 %). He mentioned that Customs Authority prepared an analytical study of such variations showing a considerable overlap of goods listed in COMESA categories and the Egyptian one; whereas COMESA imposes a tariff ratio of 10% on 85 goods which are fully exempted from Customs fees in Egypt, also Egypt imposes a tariff ratio of 2% on 200 goods against 10% imposed by COMESA, 417 goods are subject to 5% against 10% in COMESA, so that the percentage of Customs tariff on such goods cannot be increased, especially they are production requirements. As well as COMESA impose 25% on 211 goods which are fully exempted from Customs fees in Egypt or subject to the category of 2%.
He said that the Egyptian worksheet clarifies Egypt’s reservations on the current structure of the suggested Common Tariff for COMESA, in particular the suggestion of COMESA secretariat to list the goods that subject to a tariff ratio of 2% and 5% in sensitive and exempted goods in the agreement provisions. In addition, there are problems related to the necessity of increasing Customs Tariff Categories on some goods and decreasing the tariff on others to be compatible with the COMESA tariff which contradicts Egypt’s obligations in the World Trade Organization (WTO), beside the impact of such negative procedures on competitiveness of Egyptian products in foreign markets, consumer prices and Customs proceeds. In the context of common classification of goods, the domestic categories of the Egyptian Customs Tariff Schedule; i.e. 211 categories, had been listed in the COMESA Tariff Schedule.
He indicated that the Egyptian situation is not significantly different from the situation of other states in COMESA that have reservations on the Common Customs Law and Tariff, such issue will be discussed during the meetings to reach the best compatible formula of these files, then it will be presented to Ministers of Finance and Trade in COMESA to be adopted in their coming meetings.
(Source: Ministry of Finance)
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