A meeting in the Presidency of the Council of Ministers approved new measures to combat smuggling in cooperation and coordination between the ministries of finance, the interior, the economy, foreign trade, industry, internal trade, and the General Directorate of Customs, in continuation and confirmation of the previous steps in this field.
The measures in the first stage include strict control of border crossings and border areas to prevent the entry of smugglers, while the second stage includes strict control of smuggling on international roads and the entrances to major cities.
During the meeting, headed by Eng. Imad Khamis, Prime Minister, the relevant ministries were asked to take the necessary steps to address the causes of smuggling by simplifying import and export procedures, granting import licenses and expanding the list of imports with the aim of securing basic supplies for the citizen and preparing a list of the most smuggled materials from and to Syria to take the necessary steps to ensure Import or export them in a regular way.
The Ministry of Industry was asked to coordinate with the Federation of Chambers of Industry to prepare an analytical study of the list of raw materials needed for production that are entered illegally so that decisions that ensure their import can be taken in a systematic way while simplifying those procedures.
It was decided to develop and simplify the mechanism of obtaining customs data, regulating the granting of the customs declaration, the duration of its implementation, and stricter penalties for smugglers out of Syria, especially subsidized goods, “oil derivatives, flour” and animal wealth.
The measures also included the abolition of the exclusive organization of the export declaration at the border customs secretariat and the abolition of the export restriction to a specific country through one crossing.
These measures come in light of the damage that smuggling causes to the national economy and the weakening of the purchasing power of the citizen as a result of the increase in the “non-economic demand” on foreign exchange as well as the negative effects on the health of the citizen as a result of the expiration of the contraband food and agricultural drugs of unknown origin.
Source : Sana
