Khaberni - Mahmoud Al-Titi, the assistant director general of Jordan Customs, confirmed that the decision to amend the customs fees came with the objective to support the local industry, noting that the industrial sector has suffered in recent years from the competition of imported goods that are subject to lower fees than locally manufactured goods, necessitating measures to enhance the competitiveness of the Jordanian product.
Al-Titi explained in an intervention on Public Security Radio that this amendment does not directly impact the citizen and does not include goods linked to daily consumption such as clothing, shoes, and staple products.
Al-Titi clarified that the decision did not affect production inputs that impact the citizen, stating that the main goal is to protect the national industry, which was harmed after liberating many goods in 2022, and that imposing fees is to ensure the competitiveness of local industries against foreign products in the Jordanian market.
He noted that the recent amendment related to postal packages that do not exceed a value of 200 dinars was introduced to correct market distortions, explaining that these packages were previously subject to a customs duty of 10%, which had a clear impact on the clothing sector specifically.
He said the new decision eliminated the 10% customs duty on small packages with a minimum of five dinars, leaving only the application of a 16% sales tax, regardless of the value, stating that this percentage is logical, achieves fairness, and customs duty should not be higher than the value of the goods themselves.
Al-Titi mentioned that packages valued under 200 dinars represent a very large percentage of the trade incoming to the kingdom, which has doubled in recent years due to the global trend towards e-commerce and the previously lowered fees.
He explained that the volume of clothing imports, for example, has remained constant since 2015 at around 230 million dinars, although it was supposed to rise to about 600 million dinars, indicating that citizens have turned to online shopping due to reduced costs and fees.
He stated that comparing Jordan's situation with neighboring countries shows that the kingdom is still among the countries with the lowest rates of fees imposed on e-commerce, and that the increase from 10% to 16% is still within low limits compared to customs systems in surrounding countries.
He explained that for packages exceeding a value of 200 dinars, the customs procedures remained the same without any modification, where they are dealt with through a full customs declaration and are subject to fees according to the applicable laws.
Al-Titi concluded that customs work is continually evolving to keep up with trade movement, emphasizing that the goal is to achieve a balance between protecting the national industry and not imposing any unjustified burdens on the citizen, while ensuring fair competition between importers and local traders in the Jordanian market.
