Cabinet approves procedures to merge supervisory border authorities

AMMAN — The Cabinet on Sunday approved the validating reasons for a 2023 draft amendment to the system of sheltering victims of human trafficking, referring the bill to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The draft comes to ensure the compatibility of the 2012 system with the 2009 Human Trafficking Law. 

The Cabinet, during a session headed by Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh, also approved the necessary procedures to unify and merge supervisory border authorities. 

According to the decision, the Jordan Customs Department (JCD) is entrusted with inspecting and sampling tasks at borders until all supervisory authorities are unified under one umbrella. 

The decision also included directing a number of border staff to work for the JCD until April 30, 2023. 

Supervisory border employees are required to allocate a sufficient number of their personnel to perform their duties at the JCD, within two weeks of the decision’s date of issuance. 

An executive plan was adopted to unify authorities and eliminate any overlaps between their jurisdictions.

Authorities were also directed to unify their risk classifications of commodities and vehicles crossing the Jordanian borders.

Accordingly, a red lane is designated for high risk, yellow lane for low risk and green lane for non-existent risk. 

The decision stipulates granting e-licences as prior approvals and establishing a National Targeting Centre under the umbrella of the Jordanian Customs Department.

The decision comes with the aim of facilitating procedures at border crossings, and creating a unified reference inclusive of all parties; namely the ministries of Agriculture, Health and Environment, the Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission.