1210 factories exempted from customs duties in Gulf

The number of factories eligible to be exempted from the customs duties in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries increased from 1169 last March to 1210 factories last June.

A factory is exempted from the customs duty if 40% of the material used in producing the commodities and products are produced locally, and a Certificate of Origin is attached to the product or commodity.

In their recent meeting in Doha, the Ministers of Industry in the GCC countries adopted a recommendation to reduce this rate from 40% to 30% which will increase the number of products and commodities exempted from customs duties when they are moved among the GCC countries.

1386 factories applied to the general secretariat of the GCC to be exempted from customs duty of which 87.5 % were approved. The number of factories applying to be exempted from the customs duty last August was 1309.

314 factories from the UAE applied to the GCC, 83 factories from Bahrain, 764 factories from Saudi Arabia, 70 factories from Oman, 48 factories from Qatar, and 107 factories from Kuwait.