Thursday 24 November 2022 – 5.54pm
DUBAI, November 24, WAM / Dubai Customs has launched an awareness campaign on its digital services and innovative initiatives related to procedures that facilitate the movement of tourists and travellers.
The department aims, through the campaign launched by Al Maktoum International Airport, to introduce travelers and raise their level of awareness of smart systems that allow them to complete transactions via smart devices.
The department seeks to get the maximum benefit from this campaign due to the doubling of the number of travelers arriving in the country now following the momentum of the upcoming events and events, as the UAE stands out for its winter season, as well as receiving tens of thousands of fans of the Qatar World Cup 2022, as well as the upcoming launch of the Dubai Shopping Festival, which runs from 15 December 2022 to 29 January 2023.
The campaign has provided information panels for the application of the “smart early disclosure”; Which allows those coming to Dubai to pre-disclose (goods, personal belongings and gifts, coins and cash amounts) received with the traveler. The application also provides the facility to require completion of incoming transactions prior to arrival in the country, which shortens the time of their passage through the red path to complete the customs procedures in less than 4 minutes.
The second phase of the system’s development involves activating the artificial intelligence functionality that allows the application to identify the goods to be disclosed as soon as they are photographed, then present the coordinator code and determine the customs duties due on them. Construction of the airport by specifying the location of restaurants, duty free shops, exit gates and presence areas of Dubai Customs employees.
The awareness campaign also includes an introduction to customs guidance for travellers, and Dubai Customs provides guidance on its website www.dubaicustoms.gov.ae, which includes introducing travelers to authorized baggage during travel, prohibited items and baggage exempt from customs duties and taxes and collection fees for baggage in excess of what is permitted for carriage.
In the guide, the Dubai Customs specified the conditions for the exemption from customs duties, including that luggage and gifts are of a personal nature and in limited quantities and non-commercial and that the traveler must not work in the trade of materials in possession, and customs duties are levied on excess quantities and values that come with the traveler. Excess quantities and values with travelers are for commercial purposes, so all customs procedures applicable to imported goods are applied to them, in terms of tariff customs, value and procedures for organizing the customs declaration.
Khalil Saqr bin Gharib, director of corporate communications department of Dubai Customs, underlined the consolidation of Dubai’s successes in trade and tourism through the development of digital programs and services that push towards the facilitation of customs procedures for the benefit of the concessionaires , noting that Dubai International Airport handled 18.5 million passengers during the quarter, the third this year, marking the first time passenger numbers have surpassed pre-pandemic levels in three months, compared to 17.8 million passengers in the first quarter of 2020 before the start of the pandemic.
Abdel Nasser Moneim/Mohammed Jaballah
