mesa177
Hello everyone. I'm trying to seek some legal advice on customs clearance for medical equipment and accessories. Our company as well as alot of medical companies have recently been facing problems with clearing customs on medical equipment. Despite having all legal documentations and certifications (CE approval, ISO approval, FDA approval, and/or TUV approval), all imported items are not being released on pretences of "checking validity of items being sold as medical equipment and accessories" by the معهد بحوث و تنمية. We have been waiting for over a month and a half to clear our items with no possible solution in the nearby future. I do not want shortcuts nor bribing solutions; I need genuine legal means to resolve this problem. Does anyone have contacts I can seek advice from or has suggestions on how I should procede? Thank you.
rolf
A warning, customs operation seems to be quite random, to some extent. In the sense that it seems to be that people who work there are given lots of liberty, and can find any reason to delay and stop your shipment, without necessarily following any rules and only a minimum of logic and common sense. Especially with advanced machines that I guess would be assessed by someone who is not qualified and doesn't really know what he's dealing with.
Maybe you have a legal means, good luck.
Kudos for refusing to go down the bribery road. It does encourage them so who know how much they will want in the future if you bend now. It's not our fault if they are paid insufficient salaries, and not trained/educated/qualified enough. This is the government's job not yours. Also if everyone refused to pay bribes and wasta like you do, instead of complaining, they would be no corruption in the country anymore.
I form my opinion based on a story and a couple of things my uncle told me. He imports printing equipment.
Good luck and I wish I could offer more.
NuclearVision
As far as i know they dont keep anything.
I read somewhere here, they once kept items for six months, they were ordered by a company.
Maybe they just keep it longer for potential bribery(or Not, i am not accusing anybody of anything, but bureaucracy is global).