Saudi Shoura wants Customs Department run as independent authority

A Shoura Council committee has called for the transfer of the Saudi Customs Department to an independent public authority.

RIYADH: A Shoura Council committee has called for the transfer of the Saudi Customs Department to an independent public authority, financially and administratively.
This came within a series of recommendations proposed by the Financial Committee in its report based on the annual report of the Customs Department at the Shoura Council’s 12th ordinary session on Monday.
Commenting on the report, one member urged all concerned parties to concert efforts to develop customs ports for the realization of Saudi Vision 2030. Another member asked for supporting the Customs Department with qualified cadres and providing them with training and incentives in recognition of their efforts in protecting the Kingdom from the entry of fake or banned commodities.
In another issue, the Council passed a draft law on flour mill production after the members listened to a report presented by the Committee of Water, Agriculture and Environment on the draft project. The 29-point project aims to organize and monitor flour mills after their privatization.
In another decision, the Council asked the Public Authority of Irrigation to use the geographical information system (GIS) to develop operation and monitoring programs of farms, their components and irrigation networks.
In a related issue, the Council called on the General Authority of Survey to streamline and unify the activity of the survey sector in the Kingdom and coordinate with the concerned parties to unify use of global standards of geo-spatial information.
Later, the Council deliberated on a report presented by the Committee of Economy and Energy based on the annual report of the General Authority of Competition (GAC).
Among its recommendations, the Committee asked the GAC to subject procedures of exclusive transmission of football matches to fair completion systems and build partnerships with civil society organizations concerned with consumer protection and commerce chambers. It also asked the GAC to employ qualified legal cadres to properly deal with complaints on competition irregularities.
At the outset of the session, the Council approved an amended code of conduct for suppression of acts of piracy, armed robbery targeting ships and illegal sea activity in the western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden region.