The customs in the UAE has succeeded in implementing an integrated strategy to face the repercussions of the emerging corona virus "Covid-19", which contributed to protecting the community and customs officials at border points and major centers and ensuring the provision of goods and basic needs to community members in a safe manner.

The strategy implemented by the Federal Customs Authority and the local customs departments included; eight main axes to finish procedures and complete customs transactions easily with all precautionary measures ensuring a business continuity and a remote work mechanism, and completion of customs clearance transactions via smart applications, and tighten control On incoming shipments, take all safety and security measures to Ensure that shipments that are allowed into the country are not affected by the virus.

The strategy aimed to protect customs officials in the main headquarters and customs outlets by taking precautionary measures, issuing circulars on how to deal with incoming shipments, work mechanisms and health guidelines, launching awareness and health initiatives for sector employees and community members, collecting statistical data on the movement of goods, analyzing them, and providing the competent authorities in the state with them , Which supported decision-making at the country level.

Customs Commissioner, Chairman of the Commission, His Excellency Ali Saeed Al Niyadi, said that the wise leadership directives of the UAE and its rapid awareness of the implications and risks of the Corona virus crisis at an early date contributed to the country avoiding major risks 

The early warning bell was launched in the governmental sectors and raised awareness among members of society.

He added that the response of the customs sector in the country as soon as the first indicators of the Corona crisis emerged were very rapid and positive, as the authority and all local customs departments took decisive customs, health and security measures to prevent the spread of the virus, and at the same time ensure that society’s requirements are met from basic needs, indicating that this crisis gives a great opportunity to enhance the capabilities of this sector in the field of crisis management, emergencies, disasters and remote work. It is also an opportunity to unleash the potential of this sector in order to foresee the future, creativity and innovation in developing future strategies Mechanism to ensure the face of such crises and challenges.

With regard to the axis of finalizing procedures and completing customs transactions easily and conveniently, the strategy of the customs sector in the state included a set of procedures and initiatives, the most important of which is clearing transactions from a distance and listing all required papers in the electronic clearance system without contact with the auditors, and providing thermal detection devices for the dealers before entering the service centers For travelers and truck drivers, and providing customs centers with preventive safety equipment such as sterilization and disinfection tools.

Customs centers were keen on facilitating the passage of imported goods to the local market, stopping dealing with tourist vehicles and wooden ships except for exceptional cases, in addition to reducing the number of working hours and working days for customs clearers, and preventing the entry of trucks into the state Permitting commercial trucks only, as well as preventing seafarers from entering ports or going to duty-free shops, developing business continuity plans and ensuring that work is not affected.

In this context, the preliminary statistical data of the authority indicated that the overall total volume of food trade for the Emirates with the countries of the world "direct trade and free zones" amounted to 29.5 billion dirhams during the period from December 2019 to the end of March 2020 where the value of imports from them reached about 20 billion Dirhams, exports amounted to 5.1 billion dirhams, while re-exports amounted to 4.4 billion dirhams. 

In the axis of applying the remote work mechanism and facilitating the completion of clearance transactions through smart applications, the authority and the local customs departments adopted the methodology of remote work in stages, the first stage included administrative jobs, chronic disease employees and pregnant women, to later expand to include all departments except customs inspectors who practice Inspection tasks in customs centers to reduce the number of working hours in some outlets and increase the number of shifts to achieve physical spacing between inspectors and workers, allocating an email to each customs port and completing clearance transactions via smart applications.

His Excellency the Chairman of the Commission stressed that the great achievements made by the customs sector in the country in the field of developing services, completing transactions and raising the level of citizenship competencies, infrastructure, programs and electronic and smart systems that the sector enjoys, especially in the field of advance electronic customs clearance and advanced inspection devices; is one of the most important factors Which helped the sector to meet the challenges of the Corona virus and deal with it with great professionalism.

The authority and local customs departments stressed control of incoming shipments, especially from countries infected with the virus, by reducing manual inspection, increasing inspection using X-ray detection devices and radiological examination, and communicating with the relevant health and security authorities in case of suspicion of one of the shipments, and sterilizing shipments coming from infected countries in a manner Periodically, up to the suspension of some transactions with some of the affected countries, and all security and safety measures have been taken to ensure that the shipments that are allowed to enter the country are not affected by enhancing cooperation with the competent authorities, and with the support of many of those bodies Shipments, land parcels, offices, inspection yards, buildings and other customs workplaces were sterilized.

Al-Neyadi said that the Federal Customs Authority provided all required support to the National Authority for Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management from the first moment and actively participated in all its meetings and cooperated with all relevant authorities in the country, with the aim of alleviating the repercussions of the Corona virus in the country.

In this regard, His Excellency thanked all customs departments, inspectors and employees of the customs sector in the state and the relevant competent authorities for their tangible effort that contributed to enhancing the ability of the customs sector and the state to cope with the crisis.

the local customs departments issued a number of circulars to its employees about how to deal with shipments, prevent corona disease, and introduce precautionary measures that must be applied, in addition to health and safety and security guidelines and personal protection equipment, and the mechanism of dealing with employees coming from foreign travel trips or missions.

From the beginning, the authority and local departments launched a set of health and customs initiatives to hold training workshops on teleworking and business continuity plans, launching visual communication applications between employees, setting up specialized training courses remotely, as well as taking precautionary health measures to preserve senior citizens and people with chronic diseases, directing employees not to travel abroad, Establishing committees to follow up on health cases, and equipping medical rooms and quarantine for suspected cases.

WAM