The People’s Assembly approved on Sunday a bill on exempting customs offences from fines on condition that duties are paid by the due date.

According to the draft law, the customs offences listed in the articles no.277 and 278 of the Customs Law no. 38 for the year 2006 will be exempted from fines if overdue customs duties and other fees and taxes are paid, in addition to paying a fine worth 40 % of the total value of goods with overdue duties.

The law also stipulates for replacing certain fines with others whose value is 10% of the original amounts imposed if customs duties are paid by the due date.

The exemptions cover the customs offenses committed before 9/7/2013 for which no judicial rulings have been issued.

However, the customs offences related to weapons, drugs, prohibited goods, oil products and subsidized materials are not included in the law.

Minister of Finance Ismail Ismail said the law comes in light of the high revenues of the collected customs duties and other charges and taxes within previous exemptions.