Muscat: The Royal Oman Police (ROP) on Wednesday marked the International Customs Day under the theme ‘Enhancing digital transformation of customs by embracing a data culture and building a data ecosystem’.
A celebration was held on the occasion under the auspices of Colonel Said bin Khamis al Ghaithi, Director-General of Customs, at the headquarters of the Directorate General of Customs, on Wednesday.
At the beginning of the ceremony the director-general of customs delivered a speech in which he explained that the Royal Oman Police (ROP), represented by the Directorate-General of Customs, moves on with the process of development and modernization of various customs-related areas. He added that the DG of customs activated a number of measures over the past period in an effort to facilitate customs procedures and ease the flow of goods in light of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on the movement of trade exchange.
Al Ghaithi pointed to several initiatives launched by the DG of Customs, most notably the launch of the remote clearance service, the acceptance of documents copies of when the original documents are missing, acceptance of the written guarantee as an alternative to the financial guarantee, approving the origin labelling on goods in case it is not possible to provide the certificate of origin, the launch of the electronic Air Waybill (AWB) and the launch of the safe customs passage initiative between sea and air ports, free zones and customs warehouses. Besides, ROP has modernized the system of automatic inspection devices at various customs ports.
The ceremony witnessed the inauguration of a manual for goods fragmentation and the transferring of the cargo declaration. The aim is to organize and facilitate customs procedures related to the import and export of goods owned by more than one person. The system allows the conversion of the main cargo data into separate shipping documents to divide the goods to their owners.
At the end of the ceremony, a number of excelling customs officers, non-commissioned officers and personnel were honoured with the certificate of proficiency from the World Customs Organization (WCO.) The Al Wajajah port was also honoured as the best customs port for the year 2021.
The best customs clearance company, the best customs clearance agents, and the best government agency electronically linked with the Bayan system, and some companies, were also honoured at the ceromony. — ONA
