Dubai – 23 October 2017:  Dubai Customs is taking part, next Thursday 26th October 2017, in “A Day without Service Centres” which was approved by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The initiative aims to encourage customers to turn to smart channels to obtain government services and complete transactions. 

The Dubai Department of Finance (DoF), being the central entity concerned with collecting public revenues for the Dubai government, has launched the initiative and coordinated with Dubai Customs and other government entities in Dubai to close service centres across the emirate for a day, on 26th October, 2017. 
Mohammed Al Muaini, Director of Inland Customs Centres Management said the initiative reaffirms the government’s firm steps towards making Dubai the smartest and happiest city on earth in fulfilment of the wise vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. 

“Dubai is no stranger to forward thinking and challenging work. We plan to facilitate service delivery in the emirate and keep abreast of technological advances in the field. 

On his part, Edris Behzad, Client Management Director pointed out that all service centers under Dubai Customs prepared themselves to apply the initiative through raising awareness amongst their clients around the importance of using smart channels instead of seeking manual services. 

Dubai Customs provides 27 smart services to its clients which include business registration, trademark and trade license registration, opening customs account, submission of declarations amongst many others, he confirmed.    

Abdul Azziz Al Sulman, Acting Director of Jebel Ali Customs Centers said applying the new initiative will support Dubai in its vision of turning into a smart government and facilitate services whilst saving clients’ time and effort. 

He pointed that Dubai Customs has developed its services during the last ten years. It moved up from the lowest department in customer satisfaction levels in 2006 to top the list in 2016 scoring 96% on the customer satisfaction index. It’s also the first government department to adopt electronic services in 2009 and the first to turn into a smart department in 2013. 

On his part, Mohammed Al Hashimi, Director of Dubai Customs’ Finance Department said: “We coordinated with the Department of Finance regarding the initiative and will close our service desks on the day. Clients need to turn into smart channels to do their transactions. However; other transactions that require physical appearance will remain open”.