THE ISLAND’S accession to the EU in May 2004 did away with the need to clear with customs any goods imported from the bloc. Right?
Well, kind of. Just when it looked like red tape and delays would be almost single-handedly wiped out, the civil service apparatus has found ways around this – to the detriment of merchants and consumers alike.
Prior to accession, around 80 per cent of imported goods came from the EU, the rest from third countries. But now, importers can directly pick up their cargo at harbors and airports without clearing them with customs and without the need for a middleman – the clearing agent.
In turn, the lower costs for importers translate into better bargains for consumers.
Despite this transformation, the same number of customs officers are employed at Larnaca airport and Limassol harbour, but of course this staff has far less paperwork to do than previously.
But the Mail has learned from importers and shipping agents that customs officers often resort to various shenanigans that lead to inexplicable delays and cause great nuisance. They say customs personnel take forever to sign their documents, carrying out unnecessary inspections and other meaningless activities.
Another practice – which businessmen say borders on a scam – is refusing to give clearance for products during office hours and forcing the recipient to pay overtime to issue clearance papers in the afternoon. This has been going on for as long as memory serves.
Last week, a company bringing in dailies and magazines from abroad was made to wait three hours to collect parcels from customs at Larnaca Airport. A spokesman for the company had this to say yesterday:
“Things should be pretty straightforward. You go to the airport to pick up your goods, you arrive in time for the flight, and then mysteriously your goods end up in customs, when they should not – since we import from EU countries.”
“No one has ever explained why exactly this happens. It is enormously frustrating. When we made noises a few months back, they stopped this behaviour for a while. Now they’re back to their old ways.”
It’s been suggested that customs officers resort to these tricks to justify their salaries and existence.
And a shipping agent not wishing to be named said this was only the tip of the iceberg. He went so far as to claim that some customs officers and clearing agents often colluded, making deals to maximise their earnings.
“There’s a lot of that under-the-counter stuff going around.”
He then cited a more obvious example of dodgy dealings at customs. He said parliament recently passed a law requiring that an “authority to agent” must be present to clear cargos, even if their provenance is from the EU.
In other words, while no tariffs are paid, the procedure requires the services of an authorised person – usually a clearing agent – who incidentally receives an administration fee of £20.
“This is totally arbitrary, not to mention illegal under EU laws,” said the source. “No tariffs means no tariffs. But this legally sanctioned con amounts to an indirect duty on the goods.”
According to the source, parliament passed the relevant legislation about a month ago.
“They rushed the law through the back door… deputies probably caved in to the demands of clearing agents, who have realised their profession is becoming extinct and want to survive somehow.”
But clearing agent Christos Christoudias yesterday denied that merchants were having a hard time, attributing the complaints to random inspections by customs and health officials.
“From my experience, I have not seen any such delays since May 2004. I believe things are being blown out of proportion. Despite the abolition of tariffs, there is still a need for certain procedures.”
Christoudias, who has been in this line of work for some 20 years, admits that his profession is dying out. He explained that clearing agents have been forced to expand into other activities, such as cargo storage. For example, in addition to the clearing business, his company also has bonded warehouses to store goods.
“That’s totally legitimate,” commented the shipping agent. “What’s not OK is for some people to exploit loopholes in the law and carry on their way of doing business as if nothing has changed. We’re in the EU now – either we have rules, or we don’t.”
