Background

A shipment of melamine was received on behalf of a company through the Customs at Jeddah Islamic Port. The Customs submitted samples to the laboratory after the merchant had agreed to wait for the results before disposing of the goods. The results showed the non-conformity of the samples as the merchant did not respond. The case was referred to the First Instance customs Committee.

The Committee issued a ruling convicting the company owner of smuggling and forced him to pay a customs fine and requested the merchant to pay the equivalent of the value of the shipment as a forfeiture fee.

The owner of the company filed an appeal but did not include arguments that would undermine the ruling's regularity. The case was referred to Jeddah Customs Appeals Committee.

The committee found that the owner of company's grounds of appeal was based on the fact that he had re-exported the shipment paid the undertaking and fulfilled the required procedures.

Decision

The Committee cancelled the appealed ruling.