Chairman of the Export and Import Control Authority Ismail Jaber said that the authority is the major responsible for the control of trade movement in Egypt through cooperation and coordination with the concerned authorities in the Egyptian government, including Customs Department and Health Ministry.
He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today”, “The authority has 132 laboratories, 49 of which are quality testing laboratories for food commodities, and 83 of quality tests for industrial goods Distributed over the main ports of the country, including in Cairo, Aswan, Alexandria, Damietta and Safaga.
He stressed that 90 percent of the authority’s laboratories are internationally recognized, adding that they cooperate with Ministry of Military Production, the Federation of Industries and the Chemistry Department. The authority works to modernize its factories and absorb the large volume of exports.
He continued that the authority is scheduled to propose a number of laws to be considered by Egypt’s parliament during the coming period in the framework of their plan to develop the work in the authority, including the Customs Law and Import and Export Law. He added that such laws are scheduled to witness vital amendments, as they have not been amended for years.
He clarified that these amendments are intended to facilitate the release procedures, as the release of some goods requires sometimes additional documents that take a considerable amount of time, including for example the bill of lading, delivery permit, and packing list. He stressed that such measure could be abandoned if the parliament passed the amendments.
Regarding the recent crisis raised in the parliament over the entry of a shipment of beans unfit for human consumption to the country, he said that there is a great emphasis on the inspection of food commodities from abroad and the implementation of all inspections in accordance with the regulations and laws to protect the Egyptian consumer of the spoiled and expired goods.
He added that, "The Authority has done its best in terms of shipment, in accordance with the role assigned to it, and we work with the shipment according to reports received from the Ministry of Health and Quarantine, which indicate that it is sound and conform to the specifications.”
In response to a question about the leakage of counterfeit goods to the Egyptian markets, Jaber stressed that this is due to legal gaps exploited by the unscrupulous people who resort to the importation of these goods through free zones and the second by smuggling these goods across borders and ports,