The General Authority of Customs (GAC) has recorded 253,692 total declarations in September, according to its monthly newsletter.
The released figures show a drop compared to last August, which stood at 261,811. The GAC’s air cargo department recorded 226,862 declarations, while the maritime customs had 24,737. India and China maintained their positions as the top exporting and importing countries, respectively.
Meanwhile, the GAC recorded 242 seizure reports in September, with 81.1kg of opium being the largest burst of the month.
On the administrative side, 97% of customs declarations were released in an hour. The Natural Reserves and Wildlife Department remained the Best Government Agency in time of release with a processing time of less than an hour, which is a significant upgrade to August, where it recorded 1.69 hours.
Besides, the GAC transferred 24,700 declarations to other government agencies. The GAC last month disclosed that it had completed 1,795,000 customs declarations in the first half of the year. Through the Al Nadeeb system, the GAC has streamlined its operations, significantly improving efficiency, transaction speed, and documentation.
As the GAC continues to upgrade its systems and, most importantly, staff capabilities, the Administrative Development Department is tasked with identifying the training needs of the employees or departments, preparing the necessary studies on training programmes, preparing job descriptions and job structure projects.
According to the Designated Head of the Administrative Development Department, Ghanima Al Haydos, the GAC is preparing a better design of its organizational structure. “Work is underway to prepare a project to reorganize and develop the organizational structure of the Authority, which in turn reflects on the functional system by increasing, merging, or reducing administrative units."
