Source: WCO/Bahrain Customs Affairs
25 March 2020
- Bahrain Customs Affairs is part of Team Bahrain in combating the (COVID-19) pandemic, which is led by the office of His Royal Highness First Deputy Prime Minister.
- In light of the current global conditions, and in implementation of the Customs Cooperation Council’s resolution on the role of customs in natural disaster relief, we are speeding up the clearance and release of relief shipments at the borders and making them a very high priority for shipments (medicines, medical equipment and food)
- We have equipped our Customs Officers who are in the frontline facing the threat of the pandemic virus by providing them with protective clothing, masks, gloves, sanitizers and sanitizing their facilities.
- Officers have been educated and trained on the symptoms of virus, the importance of dealing with the situation and dealing with people who have contracted it, outline the reporting method.
- We have implemented new technics and adopted modern technology applications in conducting virtual meetings and communication.
- We are applying the principle of dividing employees into small work teams to limit the spread of the epidemic and imposing direct contact.
- Depending on the nature of the work in different departments, a decision has been taken to reduce the workforce by 50%. We have divided the workforce in to two Teams A and B, which will be rotated depending on the working schedule daily or weekly.
- Staff that bear chronic illness and pregnant women, whose infection with the virus poses a danger to their health, are exempted from attending to work and assigned them to work remotely from home to the tasks assigned to them.
- With the increase in demand for e-Commerce transactions, the Customs Affairs increased staffing to support the e-Commerce stakeholders (DHL, Aramex, FedEx etc.).
- With the Customs brokers, we emphasized the clearance of shipments and electronic payment from distance, as well as circulating the contact numbers of the call center and customer service for the purpose of non-attendance.
- We believe that all Countries are currently focusing on securing the import of medicines and foodstuffs, in light of the presence of materials of great importance that are not expected to be dispensed, such as materials that are used in power generation or water desalination by the importing countries.
Further information: http://www.wcoomd.org/-/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/facilitation/activities-and-programmes/natural-disaster.......