Cairo, Jan 2 (Aswat Masriya) - Egypt will apply a new phase of 10 per cent cuts on customs of vehicles imported from the European Union in accordance with a comprehensive EU-Egyptian trade agreement, sources at the Cairo airport customs said on Saturday.

“These reductions will be applied upon the arrivals of the owners of modern European cars in all the Egyptians ports and airports,” the sources said.

The EU-Egypt Association Agreement, which entered into force in 2004, provides that customs duties on vehicles "shall be reduced by 10% annually starting six years after the entry into force of the Agreement, or January 2010, with duties completely eliminated within 16 years after entry into force of this Agreement," according to the official website of the EU.

The agreement “forms the legal basis governing relations between Egypt and the EU." It is modeled on the network of Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) agreements between the EU and other countries in the southern flank of the Mediterranean Sea.

The customs value on European cars this year is to reach 28%. This means that yearly reductions are due to reach zero per cent in 2019.

The customs on cars imported from China and Japan will continue at a fixed 40%.