The GCC Unified Customs Regulation “Law” ,which was prepared by a technical committee of the GCC member States, has been laid down to meet the provisions relating to the customs affairs and regulate the relationship between customs and the public. The Regulation “Law” contains provisions and procedures for the importation, exportation and transit of goods through the territories of the GCC States. This Regulation “Law” also clarifies the rights of the employees of those administrations.

This Regulation “Law” aims at protecting the society through the control of the entry and exit of individuals, goods and means of transport.

This Regulation “Law” falls into 17 sections comprising 179 articles and is deemed the legal instrument regulating the duties of the customs offices and specifying the areas subject to customs control, the nature of the customs procedures at the land, marine and air ports and the postal customs offices as well applied to the various customs transactions such as importation, exportation, temporary admission, re-exportation and transit. It is the instrument by which the customs tariff is applied and the customs taxes “duties” are levied on the imported goods. All these regulations support the trend to make the GCC States an international market, encourage their national industries and projects and extend the scope of their transactions and increase their exports.

This Regulation “Law” also contains provisions specifying the stages of the clearance of the goods, exemption from customs taxes “duties”, conditions of the temporary admission of the goods without payment of the customs taxes “duties”, the documents to be produced to customs for the clearance of the goods in addition to the provisions governing the establishment of the free zones and duty-free shops and controlling the activity of the customs clearing agents (brokers) and the conditions of obtaining the licences for practising the customs clearance job and treatment of the customs offences and smuggling matters.

This regulation “Law” employs the latest customs regulations and laws of the GCC Sates and the Arab States in addition to the privacy of the GCC States and the nature of the role of customs therein, and the WTO Agreement as well as the WCO Conventions.

The Unified Customs Regulation “Law’ of the GCC states was adopted in the 20th Session of the Supreme Council held in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in December 1999 and was agreed to implement it as a reference Regulation “Law’ for one year from the date adopted and that it would be reviewed in the light of the comments received by the Secretariat General from the member Sates in an attempt to have it obligatory implemented by all customs administrations of the member States by 2000.

Due to the completion of the requirements of implementation and the review of the comments of the member States and finalizing the preparation of the explanatory notes and Rules of Implementation thereof, the Secretariat General proposed in the 21st Session of the Supreme Council that the reference implementation should be extended for one more year and the Supreme Council, in its 21st Session held in Manama, Bahrain in December 2000, decided to extend the reference implementation for one more year provided that it would be obligatory implemented by all customs administrations of the GCC States in January 2002.

The objective of having a unified customs regulation “Law” of the GCC States is to unify customs procedures in all customs administrations of the GCC States and contribute to the enhancement of cooperation in the customs field and regulate the relationship between these administrations and the community of traders in the GCC States so as to ensure unification of the customs procedures in all the GCC States. This regulation “Law” regulates the relationship between the customs administrations and the other governmental administrations in the member States and supports the trade exchange between them and the other foreign countries which is one of the bases of the customs union of the GCC States.