Damascus countryside-SANA
The Jdeidet Yabous border crossing with Lebanon represents an important vital artery, as the trade exchange movement between Syria and Lebanon and the neighboring countries “import, export and transit” through the customs secretariat at the crossing has witnessed remarkable activity since the beginning of this year.
During the SANA team’s monitoring of the reality of work in the customs secretariat at the Jdeidet Yabous border crossing, the mechanism for providing services to departures and arrivals, facilitating the procedures related to them, and the mechanism for the detection of goods.. Director of Damascus Customs Qutaiba Khalouf confirmed the permanent readiness of the employees and the customs detachment in the secretariat to provide services, simplify procedures and achieve smoothness in the transit movement. and people and goods transport.
Khalouf pointed out that work is continuing on automating the transit movement “entry and exit” of tourist cars in preparation for dispensing with paper records and in shortening time and effort and organizing public and private car lanes within specific crossings for each car by category. Inspections with the required speed and accuracy.
According to Khalouf, the imports of the private sector that entered the crossing during the first half of this year included “medical devices, raw materials for the food and pharmaceutical industries, laboratory reagents, batteries, fabrics, threads and agricultural seeds,” and others.
While the number of transit trucks that crossed from Lebanon towards Jordan and the Gulf countries in the same period amounted to about 2,300 trucks loaded with vegetables, fruits, cars, detergents and others, according to Khalouf. .
Regarding the export movement, Khalouf pointed out that the number of export trucks loaded with products of Syrian origin that left for Lebanon in the first half amounted to about 1,800 trucks containing various goods, including detergents, biscuits, tissues, shoes and clothes from the national industry and others.
In order to see the mechanism of inspection of goods in the yard and warehouses of the crossing, SANA met the Secretary of Customs of the Jdeidet Yabous Border Crossing, Ramzi Salloum, who explained that after the customs declaration was submitted to the inspection department, all the required documents are attached. Its presence, whether in the yard or warehouse, and verifying the conformity of the goods to the customs declaration and the correctness and accuracy of customs duties being met.
Salloum pointed out that some goods contain products that need to be analyzed, so the scout takes the samples in the presence of the person concerned or his legal representative and sends them to the competent laboratories to ensure their type, safety and compliance with the Syrian standard specifications or their validity for human food use.
In the event of any violations of any kind in the goods inside the customs secretariat, the detection department organizes the violations and collects the full fees and fines due in accordance with the provisions of the customs law, according to what Salloum indicated, stressing that most customs procedures are automated on the ASYCUDA system from the moment the goods enter the customs secretariat until they are placed for consumption Local, including document, audit, acceptance, organization of customs treatment, and full payment of fees.
Regarding exemptions from customs duties aimed at encouraging the national industry, Salloum indicated that all raw materials needed for industry in general and the human medicine industry in particular are exempted in accordance with relevant decrees and laws from all customs duties.
As part of the work to combat smuggling, Salloum revealed that the number of cases investigated by the secretariat during the first half of this year amounted to about 138 cases, indicating that reconciliation and settlement were made on some of these cases, and the fines collected amounted to more than one billion and 800 million pounds.
He pointed out that the cases that have not yet been settled were referred for due process to the judiciary, explaining that the confiscated goods included "smuggled clothes, mobile devices, human medicines, foodstuffs, electronic devices and others."
Syria and Lebanon link 6 border crossings: Jdeidet Yabous, Dabousiyah, Jossiya, Jisr Al Qamar, Al Arida and Mutreba.
Waseem Al-Adawi
Follow Sana's news on Telegram https://t.me/SyrianArabNewsAgency