Potential difficulties in customs clearance

Potential difficulties in customs clearance

 

  • Intellectual property (forgery) -
    • If customs suspect that the goods are forged (whether after receiving advance notice on the arrival of goods, or after conducting the auto check in customs), the customs cashier may notify the owner of the rights, who has the right to request from customs that they suspend the clearance of goods which allegedly violate his rights within three work days (sometimes, this deadline is expanded to an additional three days).
    • If the customs cashier identifies the goods that violate the rules of import, or those with additional violations, he may expropriate the property and confiscate the goods. (See the relevant regulations here.)
  • Raising the value of goods – If the value of goods appears to be low and unrealistic, customs may decide to raise the value and the customs fees.

The importer, in this case, may object or abandon the goods (to be offered thereafter as unwanted goods), or he can pay what is required without withdrawing the objection. In the latter case, he has the right to sue customs within 3 months.

  • Classification –customs may reject the classification of the goods that is conducted or modified by the customs agent.
  • Defects – if samples fail to meet the compatibility sampling, there are certain cases in which fixing defects in the shipment is allowed in order to meet the specification standards. This is done through coordination between the Standards Institute of Israel (SII) and the Palestinian Standards Institution (PSI). In the event that the shipment fails to comply with the standard requirements, the importer may be given the following options: dispose of the goods in the presence of the representative of the SII or return the shipment to the supplier abroad and show the import declaration to the representative of the SII.