Customs officials are holding three cargo containers of questionable Chinese beer until the Ministry of Commerce decides what to do with them, officials said Tuesday.
The 4,200 cases of King Long beer, shipped from Guangzhuo in southern China, were seized Friday when Sihanoukville customs inspectors found seals missing on the doors of the containers. The seals ensure that the cargo was inspected before it was shipped, officials said.
“We are here waiting for the Ministry of Commerce to decide what to do,” said Pao Leang Kong, a Camcontrol customs official in Sihanoukville.
The beer “looks dirty; the bottles are not clean,” he said. “They are too different from other bottled products.”
Although most of the labels have worn off of the bottles and there appears to be material floating in the beer itself, it does not necessarily mean the beer’s expiration date has passed, Pao Leang Kong said.
But he said any cargo of that type entering Cambodia without a seal is illegal.
Beer being imported by the Concave International Investment Co Ltd was inspected in China before shipment by the Societe Generale de Surveillance, which holds contracts with the government to inspect and pass goods.
When the containers reached Cambodia, however, SGS’s seal of approval had been removed from the hatches, according to one SGS official who asked not to be identified.
Officials at Concave International Investment could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Customs officials will not know what happened to the original, certified cargo until SGS conducts a full investigation.
The SGS official did say, however, that the King Long beer case proved that the inspection process does work.
He noted that Cambodian customs realized the beer was not being shipped legally and took action to seize the containers.
SGS renewed a contract with the government last year to handle the pre-shipment inspection of goods so that customs officials would know the value of imports when they arrived in the country. Tariffs are charged to the import company, as are inspection fees charged by SGS, according to the inspection company official.
SGS had cancelled a previous contract with the government, claiming it was owed millions of dollars.
An agreement was eventually reached that allowed SGS to begin handling inspections again.
(Additional reporting by Brian Calvert)
