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29 March 2024

Accord reached to deal with fake goods

Mohammed Khalifa Al Muhairi (SUPPLIED)

Published
By Abdel Hai Mohamad

An agreement to draw up a joint plan to combat fake commodities in the UAE has been reached by Federal Customs Authority (FCA) and Federation of UAE Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCI), a senior official has said.

"This is the first time the FCA and FCCI which represents the private sector in the country reach an agreement to draw up a real plan to combat fake commodities and give more importance to this negative phenomenon, which is linked with the outside and grows at the world level," Mohammed Khalifa bin Fahd Al Muhairi, Director General, FCA, exclusively told Emirates Business.

"We agreed that the combating of fake commodities is a joint responsibility. Workable mechanisms of implementation and combating will be announced within the next few days," he said adding "coordination meetings are on and our aim is the activation of cooperation aspects, especially with the private sector."

Al Muhairi said "the combating of fake commodities is one of the FCA's top priorities. The FCA's plan in that regard includes the development of legislations and customs measures, direct cooperation with government and private bodies concerned in the fighting of commercial cheating and launch of joint campaigns with franchise companies to educate the public on the dangers of fake goods and the way of dealing with them."

"Depending on the agreement, joint teams from the FCA and FCCI will be set up to examine the means of fighting cheating and counterfeiting to limit their negative effects on national products and trade agencies and protect the UAE's reputation in the world trade system.

"Last period did not see sufficient interest to introduce strong mechanisms to fight fake goods. The new plan will involve many concerned bodies."

Al Muhairi declined to give any percentages of fake commodities in the market. "Our aim today is not to know whether the phenomenon increased or fell." He said combating it is more important.

"The meeting with the FCCI's chairman comes in line with the FCA's keenness to activate cooperation with the private sector and its desire to be acquainted with challenges that the sector faces in foreign trade, especially with regard to customs. This stems from the fact that the FCA is fully convinced that the private sector is the most important strategic partner in the development system adopted by the UAE," he said.



Bahrain customs president visits dubai customs

Ahmed Butti Ahmed, Director General of Dubai Customs, received Brigadier Basem Bin Yaqoub Al Hamar, President of Bahrain Customs and his accompanying delegation, at the Customs main building yesterday.

The two- day official visit by Bahraini delegation aims at learning about and benefiting from Dubai Customs practices in respect with management of customs facilities at sea and airports as part of the preparations for opening Port Sheikh Khalifa bin Selman next year in Bahrain.

The visiting delegation met the executive directors at Dubai Customs where a detailed brief outlining the divisional roles and responsibilities and a film showing the development experienced by Dubai Customs in different areas were delivered.

The delegation was greatly concerned with the electronic services being delivered by Dubai Customs where most of the operations are electronically processed.

While visiting the three terminals of Dubai International Port and the departments of Technical Support and Operations, Intellectual Property Rights, e-clearance as represented by the advanced system of Mirsal 2, Valuation, Tariff and Origin, the delegation was briefed on the divisional and departmental business processes and procedures.

Underlining the profound fraternal relations between Dubai Customs and Bahrain Customs, Butti said "Dubai Customs is willing to provide all the expertise and support needed to operate Port Sheikh Khalifa bin Selman in Bahrain".

Brigadier Al Hamar said "this visit aims at learning about the best current customs practices and benefiting from the electronic systems and technological services being used by Dubai Customs in simplifying the procedures for import and export of goods and commodities via sea, air and land ports".

The visiting delegation was interested in recognising inspection operations supporting equipment like x-ray used in profiling and scanning inbound baggage and goods, intestine devices for combating smuggling of drugs inside human bodies, e-clearance system and customs intelligence system in use at Dubai Customs.

The visit comes within the framework of the bi-lateral cooperative relations among GCC states and the Customs Administrations of both Dubai and Bahrain.

The two sides expressed their interest in consolidating bonds
of cooperation and developing their relations for the benefits of the common interests between the two countries.