By Islam Zayed The Director of the new Egyptian Customs Authority (ECA), Mohamed El Salhway, revealed that he pushed for the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to issue a resolution to restructure the Supreme Council for Customs Tariffs (SCCT). This will hopefully result in a new draft law then identify new customs tariffs. According to El Salhawy, establishing a new customs tariff is in the Egyptian economy's best interest. The new tariff structure should meet the requirements set by the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and remove the current out-dated tariff regulations. Potential negotiations are planned to take place with the Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade and the Minister of Investment in order to discuss the new structure. The new tariff is purposed to carry out the goals of the economic plans, which aim to enhance the competitive advantage of Egyptian products. El Salhawy added that he is in the process of preparing a new customs draft law to tackle the current loopholes, and maximise the penalties for customs evasion to combat smugglers. In addition, he issued new instructions to monitor customs entry points more closely to halt any illegal activity. El Salhawy also promised a new plan for dealing with customs evasion. Lastly, he ordered customs directors at the ECA to tackle the problems of both Drawback and Temporary-admission custom systems in addition to granting customs facilities in accordance with production.
