Working in Customs Clearance
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa No. ( 5159 )
Q: I work in the field of customs clearance for goods arriving
into the Kingdom from abroad, and the nature of my work is summarized as follows: First: Clearance is a department of the customs authorities, and clearance is a license that customs grant to Saudi individuals to act on behalf of importing merchants to complete the customs procedures for their goods and pay the associated customs duties in exchange for a fee that the clearancer takes from the merchant. This fee always, according to the experience I present to your eminence, which amounts to seven years in this field, is more than ten times the effort due. This is on average. I work for one of the clearancers in exchange for a certain percentage for performing the duties of this clearancer’s office. The nature of our work: We receive the documents that come with the goods entering the Kingdom, then we record the information about the goods on a customs inspection form distributed to us for two riyals per form, then we submit this form to customs and a customs employee inspects the goods and assesses the customs duties due for these goods, then we pay the customs duties to the customs fund on behalf of the merchant. Here the customs procedures end, and I, as the clearancer, collect what I paid to customs plus my fee for this work. If the fee were measured by cost or by fatigue and effort, it would be at a ratio of 1 to 10 on
average, and Allah knows best that it sometimes reaches 1 to 50, and I am not exaggerating. So I am seeking a fatwa that will light my path, and I wish to be on clear knowledge. If I am a sinner, the door of repentance is open, and Allah is behind the intention. Then, the nature of our work requires the individual to take the shortest paths that complete the customs procedures quickly, so you often find us scheming, lying, and forging, in matters that require us to do so. And in my capacity as working for a customs clearancer, if I am not active, he will naturally be without need of me, because the active ones in this field are many. Activity in this field is based on methods that are, at their least—sometimes—professional lying or working in a clearer manner without religious or moral principle. We ask your eminence, may Allah reward you with good, to inform us with your ijtihad about the ruling of the religion on this work? Knowing that there are other matters, including that we sometimes, or even mostly, take a commission or clearance fee increase in exchange for the size of the amount we pay to customs. To clarify for your eminence, if we pay the customs duties for a certain merchant above a certain limit, we raise the value of the commission or clearance fee on him.
A: Your work in clearing imported goods and completing delivery procedures in exchange for a fee, whether small or large, is permissible in itself, because of the cooperation in good it contains, but it is prohibited due to the
lying and forgery mixed with it. Accordingly, it is not permissible for you to continue in this work, and the doors to earning money are many, and whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah replaces it with something better. Allah the Exalted said:[At-Talaq 65:2-3] . And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.
Q: I work in the field of customs clearance for goods arriving
into the Kingdom from abroad, and the nature of my work is summarized as follows: First: Clearance is a department of the customs authorities, and clearance is a license that customs grant to Saudi individuals to act on behalf of importing merchants to complete the customs procedures for their goods and pay the associated customs duties in exchange for a fee that the clearancer takes from the merchant. This fee always, according to the experience I present to your eminence, which amounts to seven years in this field, is more than ten times the effort due. This is on average. I work for one of the clearancers in exchange for a certain percentage for performing the duties of this clearancer’s office. The nature of our work: We receive the documents that come with the goods entering the Kingdom, then we record the information about the goods on a customs inspection form distributed to us for two riyals per form, then we submit this form to customs and a customs employee inspects the goods and assesses the customs duties due for these goods, then we pay the customs duties to the customs fund on behalf of the merchant. Here the customs procedures end, and I, as the clearancer, collect what I paid to customs plus my fee for this work. If the fee were measured by cost or by fatigue and effort, it would be at a ratio of 1 to 10 on
average, and Allah knows best that it sometimes reaches 1 to 50, and I am not exaggerating. So I am seeking a fatwa that will light my path, and I wish to be on clear knowledge. If I am a sinner, the door of repentance is open, and Allah is behind the intention. Then, the nature of our work requires the individual to take the shortest paths that complete the customs procedures quickly, so you often find us scheming, lying, and forging, in matters that require us to do so. And in my capacity as working for a customs clearancer, if I am not active, he will naturally be without need of me, because the active ones in this field are many. Activity in this field is based on methods that are, at their least—sometimes—professional lying or working in a clearer manner without religious or moral principle. We ask your eminence, may Allah reward you with good, to inform us with your ijtihad about the ruling of the religion on this work? Knowing that there are other matters, including that we sometimes, or even mostly, take a commission or clearance fee increase in exchange for the size of the amount we pay to customs. To clarify for your eminence, if we pay the customs duties for a certain merchant above a certain limit, we raise the value of the commission or clearance fee on him.
A: Your work in clearing imported goods and completing delivery procedures in exchange for a fee, whether small or large, is permissible in itself, because of the cooperation in good it contains, but it is prohibited due to the
lying and forgery mixed with it. Accordingly, it is not permissible for you to continue in this work, and the doors to earning money are many, and whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah replaces it with something better. Allah the Exalted said:
And whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out (3) And will provide for him from where he does not expect. And whoever relies upon Allah - then He is sufficient for him
وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا (2) وَيَرْزُقْهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لاَ يَحْتَسِبُ وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.