Wednesday, May 24, 2023 – 10:10 am
A group of investors in the import sector in the province of Nador find themselves forced to pay additional amounts to the Office of Customs and Indirect Taxes, which they consider unpayable, on the basis of a contradiction in the documents submitted by the Spanish authorities regarding goods imported from the Kingdom of Iberia.
This refers to the Moroccan excise and customs exemption certificate with the designation “EUR.1” issued by the Spanish customs and presented by these investors to confirm that the imported goods are of European origin in order to benefit from the preferential treatment upon arrival at the port of Beni Ansar , so the claim remains only Payment of value-added tax.
Victims complain that the Spanish customs services, during post-control by their Moroccan counterparts, after many years of receiving the goods and disposing of them by the importer, cancel the previously delivered certificates. Considering this a gross violation of the requirements of the Preferential System Agreement between Morocco and the European Union.
Accordingly, these investors are demanding a settlement of this situation at customs following a discrepancy in Spanish documents and not in other European sources, which imposes real financial damage on those concerned, primarily as a result of the seizure of all their imported goods in the port of Nador, so that they must pay unjustified fees with a 75 percent increase as an excuse.
Applicants for this practice call for the intervention of the Moroccan customs administration to repair the damage caused to Spanish interests related to the delivery of EUR.1 certificates in order to protect investments in the eastern region as a whole. Both calling for good governance in improving the business climate, and in line with the royal strategy that encourages the private sector to contribute to development efforts.
