Dubai Customs amends the grace period for Customs declaration submission

Executive summary

On 14 April 2023, Dubai Customs issued Customs Notice No. (04/2023) (pdf), extending the timeline for physically submitting a hardcopy Customs declaration and supporting documents to within 30 days after filing the initial Customs declaration online. The notice came into force on 24 April 2023.

Detailed discussion

Background

Previously, the Customs declaration and supporting documents were required to be physically submitted within 14 days of filing the customs declaration in accordance with Customs Notice No. (01/2018), which had been in force since 1 September 2018. The change made in Customs Notice No. (04/2023) is in line with efforts to ease the Customs clearance process.

Highlights of Customs Notice No. (04/2023)

Key points pertaining to the physical submission of the Customs declaration mentioned in the new notice include:

• Importers and exporters should submit the Customs declaration, along with the supporting documents, within 30 days of first filing the Customs declaration.
  
  
• Failure to submit the Customs declaration along with supporting documents within the prescribed period will result in a fine of AED5 per day, up to a maximum of AED300.
  
  
• Customs declarations filed online between 29 March 2020 and 26 September 2022 but not subsequently submitted in hardcopy, are not subject to the fine mentioned above, but must be submitted within 90 days from the date that the notice entered into force.
  
  
• The following situations are exempt from the requirement to submit Customs declarations and supporting documents:
  • Transit declarations, including trans-shipments
    
    
  • Companies with approved document e-archiving systems
    
    
  • Direct imports/exports by entities exempted from Customs duties in accordance with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Common Customs Law
    
    
  • Import/export declarations under a personal name
• All Customs declarations and supporting documents, including the above-exempted cases, should be stored for five years from the date of filing the Customs declaration.
  
  
• Failure to abide by the provision of Customs Notice No. (04/2023) will result in penalties in accordance with the GCC Common Customs Law and Rules of Implementation (pdf).

Implications

Importers and exporters registered with Dubai Customs must review their import and export processes concerning the physical submission and archiving of Customs declarations and supporting documents in accordance with Customs Notice No. (04/2023) to mitigate potential penalties in accordance with the GCC Common Customs Law and Rules of Implementation.

For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:

EY Consulting LLC, Dubai

• Pascal Cange, MENA Global Trade Leader
  
  
• Sayed M. Muneeb, Global Trade
  
  
• Thais O. Cunha, Global Trade
  
  
• Sandra Isabet, Indirect Tax Services

EY LLP (United States), Middle East Tax Desk, New York

• Asmaa Ali

Published by NTD's Tax Technical Knowledge Services group; Carolyn Wright, legal editor

For a full listing of contacts and email addresses, please click on the Tax News Update: Global Edition (GTNU) version of this Alert.