They argue that the inability to implement existing laws have partly accounted for the losses hence must be checked.

The comment comes after the suspension of the Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) last Friday, February 16, 2018.

Obviously pleased with the decision by the Office of the Vice President to suspend the implementation of the CTN, the businesses maintain that the losses have largely been due to a lax monitoring system at the ports.

Vice President of the Association of Ghana Industries, Humphrey Ayim-Darkeh tells Citi Business News reviewing the customs documentation process to allow cross-checking of information on imports, should correct potential malpractices.

“For instance, if I import a particular consignment of goods and the forwarding agent passes the entry and the description is done by a customs and there is an element of under declaration, we will see it in the portal,” he explained.

Freight Forwarders equally maintain that compelling shippers to comply with standardized format for presenting manifests which describes the weight, volume as well as the stowage plan for a consignment of goods, should reduce under declaration.

The President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Kwabena Ofosu Appiah stated as,

“The shippers provide the manifest but the timing and the format that it takes; it is very crucial because if the consignment gets to the destination before manifest is provided, that could lend itself to a whole lot of discrepancies. But if it is provided from source, then everyone gets to be comfortable with the process.”

It is unclear whether the government bears any judgement debt with the latest development as managers of the platform are yet to comment on the matter.

But Citi Business News understands that there is a crunch meeting on the issue later this week to decide the next action.

For the AGI and the freight forwarders, enforcing international best practices could also improve revenue mobilization going forward.

“Guarding under-invoicing, mis-description of products, dumping and other related issues, we think the Ghana International Trade Commission ought to be inaugurated as that would be one of the institutions to complement the efforts of the AGI in meeting its goal,” Mr. Ayim-Darkeh added.

His counterpart, Kwabena Ofosu Appiah stressed, “I would want to urge the GRA on to tool its staff and make them understand the changing phase in international trade business such as Trade facilitation and its impact.”

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinesnews.com/Ghana

The post Opponents of CTN demand strict monitoring at ports appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The CTN is expected to track all imports to Ghana to reduce revenue losses with under declaration.

Even before its implementation in March 2018, the businesses say they will be disadvantaged.

The freight forwarders argue that the Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) is a duplication of efforts to slow down their activities.

They explain that the customs already has access to shipment information hence no need for any new documentation.

The President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders, Kwabena Ofosu Appiah explained the group’s position as;

“We believe this is just allowing someone to set up just a system to provide information on imports such as vehicles and make up to about 100 dollars on every bill of laden,” he stated.

The CTN primarily allows freight forwarders from the country of origin to upload information on a particular consignment unto the platform.

This is subsequently relayed unto the Ghana customs platform in real time.

The charges range between 100 and 200 dollars per consignment of goods.

This is however dependent on the number of consignments.

The CEO of CTN Ghana, Geoffrey Cole disputes the arguments of the freight forwarders of additional costs.

“We are dealing with the freight forwarder at the port of origin who is engaged by the shipper or supplier or manufacturer to process documents out of that country to Ghana. So we have no business with the freight forwarder whose mandate resides in Ghana,” he explained.

Due to the timely provision of information, any consignment which is suspected of under declaration or under valuation, could be surcharged to avert any possible revenue loss due to tax evasion.

Geoffrey Cole tells Citi Business News the program should also protect the economy from dumping of unapproved goods.

“The benefits do not only accrue to customs but also to the Ministry of Health as it can use the CTN to control the importation of some prohibited pharmaceutical products. Likewise the Ministry of Interior could use the CTN to determine any threat of importation of unwanted weapons, etc. Also, the Ministry of Trade in making economic decisions for Ghana could also use the CTN to track imports,” he added.

A Tax advisor at the Commissioner of Customs, Christian Sottie admits to the outstanding issues raised by the businesses.

He however explains that all such issues should be resolved for the roll out in March.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post Importers resist Customs’ Cargo Tracking Notes policy appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.