Introduction of Afghan customs
Afghan Customs History:
Afghanistan is a country that has a history of more than 5,000 years with traditions and customs, religions, different cultures, great civilization as well as antiquity of science and culture.
A look at the history of Afghanistan reveals that this ancient country has long been the center of intersections of trade routes and the crossing of the Silk Road, so that Indian, Chinese, Persian and Arabic merchants needed to cross the border. According to the customs of that time, they paid the rulers of that time in weight per bar, per number, per sair (7Kg), per skin of animals.
The same amount of cash and goods that were collected as a customs duty, were learned in different periods under different names, such as road protection, port, city, monetary, long levity, one-sixtieth, one-fortieth, one-tenth, and so on.
Eventually, during the reign of Amir Shir Ali Khan, the customs was called Chepotera, so for a long time, the customs duty was collected from the goods as on one-tenth basis.
For example, from ten sair of wheat one sair (7Kg), form 10 rolls of textiles one roll was taken as customs duty, and sometimes it was taken as cash as well.
The duty that was collected under these names were only for revenue generation purposes. The merchants had to pay the duty in every port. In addition to the transit goods, domestic products transported from one city to another were also obliged to pay the customs dut.
For example, if the amount of goods reached Kabul, it would be transferred to Kabul customs for the purpose of the collecting the duty, and the duty was collected under the names of expenditures on a per package or per sair (7Kg) basis.
The customs situation during the reigns of Amir Abdul Rahman Khan and Habibullah Khan did not change except for some small amendments.
However, after 1300 LY and the beginning of the reign of the late Ghazi Amanullah Khan, the customs situation in Afghanistan changed with the previous periods, for simplification, wellbeing of the residents and were justly distributed for the development of provinces and regions.
After this the customs duties were collected in cash and were transferred to the state’s treasury which were created by Mr. Hasan Afandi, who was functioning as the director of customs during which the customs duty collection changed from one-tenth and one-sixtieth to the present percentages.
In the past, customs clearance was established under the following four headings.
1- Imports
2 – Exports
3 – Transits
4- Locally produced goods (items produced domestically or goods that were transported within the country).
This regulation was printed and implemented after two amendments during the reign of Nader Shah in 1303 and 1305 LY and was implemented until 1313. In 1313, the Ministry of Commerce compiled the customs and tariff principles and subjected them to implementation to collect tariffs. And printed the customs product.
Our vision:
Our idea is to emerge as a model customs office in the region in terms of revenue collection, trade facilities, border management and community protection.
Our mission:
Collecting the desired income correctly and transparently, protecting the society through effective and coordinated management of borders, helping to grow trade and industry with effective facilities for legal trade. Simplifying and coordinating customs procedures and processes, establishing customs control and strengthening customs staff, ensuring honest staff performance. Transparent implementation of procedures to help the country move towards self-sufficiency and financial stability.
Strategic goals:
Strengthening legality:
Implement development programs to strengthen the legality and performance of employees and traders in accordance with customs law, regulations and procedures.
Trade facilitation:
Creating appropriate strategies and programs in order to develop opportunities and creating a suitable working environment to increase business facilities plus improving the effectiveness of the office:
Design, create and implement good governance strategies and policies to strengthen and increase the effectiveness and credibility of the General Directorate of Customs.
Revenue collection:
Review the revenue collection and control mechanism and improve operational methods and processes to maximize revenue collection.
Strategic outlook:
Mobilize, maximize revenue, and manage government finances to encourage legal trade and effectively control and protect borders effectively plus protection of the society.
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