Korea Customs Service Supports Inspection Costs for SME Export and Import Cargo

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] Starting from the 1st of next month, the Korea Customs Service will support about 90% of the customs inspection costs for export and import container cargoes of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

On the 17th, Korea Customs Service announced that Commissioner Noh Seok-hwan promised to support customs inspection costs during an on-site inspection at the Busan New Port customs inspection area.

Customs inspections are measures to prevent the inflow of drugs, items harmful to public safety, and counterfeit goods into the country. Until now, the Korea Customs Service has conducted selective inspections of export and import cargo.

However, regardless of company size, export and import companies have had to bear the inspection costs (including transportation fees for moving containers to the inspection site, loading and unloading fees, and import/export fees), which has increased the economic difficulties of companies.

Accordingly, the Korea Customs Service plans to directly cover the inspection costs to reduce the burden on small and medium export and import companies.

However, the support target includes SMEs as defined under Article 2 of the Framework Act on Small and Medium Enterprises, provided they hold SME status on the date of customs inspection. The cargo must be export/import container cargo that does not violate export/import laws based on inspection results, including managed cargo, direct port customs clearance cargo, and export loading place cargo.

The support amount is basically set at about 90% of the inspection costs that SMEs would actually bear, and the final amount will be decided within the limit set by the Commissioner of the Korea Customs Service, considering the same inspection type, container specifications, and inspection methods.

However, those who have overdue taxes collected by the customs office are excluded from the support target.

Commissioner Noh Seok-hwan stated, “Supporting customs inspection costs is being promoted to help normalize the management of SMEs, which have been contracted due to worsening domestic and international conditions such as the COVID-19 pandemic.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.