Single customs territory will be fully fledged this fiscal year - TRA

By The guardian reporter

Deputy Commissioner for Trade Facilitation and Procedures, Patrick Mugoya

With success of the pilot project, Tanzania is now working on establishing a fully fledged Single Customs Territory (SCT) in the next financial year authorities at the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) have announced.

 

In a statement from the authority circulated to media yesterday, Deputy Commissioner for Trade Facilitation and Procedures Patrick Mugoya said the pilot project that was embarked on back in July 2014 has been a success and now the authority is moving to make it a fully fledged system.

 

“The system seeks to facilitate trade in the region and to protect our industries and jobs,” he said in the statement.

 

“It will help reduce the cost of doing business as well as eliminate dumping of goods in countries of transit,” he detailed.

 “All the challenges that emerged during the SCT piloting period will by next month be sorted out for full implementation of the system in the 2015/16 financial year,” he noted.

 

The challenges which are being worked on by experts from the East African member states include the complexity of systems interfacing as well as the use of customs bonded warehouse.

 

Others are the slow pace of cross border government agencies and regulators in their adoption of the ICT based SCT systems as well as the growing fear of job losses expressed by freight forwarders.

 

“Under the system, the process and documentation are done in the country of destination before the consignments are cleared and released at the port of entry,” the Deputy Commissioner for Trade Facilitation and Procedures went on to explain.

 

 Mugoya said that the system applies for maritime goods coming into the EAC region and also covers  intra-regional trade goods citing that some of the goods that were assessed during the piloting period included rice, maize, sugar, neutral spirits, cigarettes petroleum products, wheat, salt, edible oil and pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.

 

He said at the first point of entry, depending on the level of risk, customs officers from the destination country, who are posted at the first point of entry and can subject the goods to physical examination before release.

 

“Customs declarations are made electronically, processed and released by the authorities from the country of destination prior to offloading of the goods and release from the port,” he explained.

 

With the SCT, about 70 per cent of the costs incurred due to former bureaucratic customs operations will be slashed lowering transportation expenses significantly which in turn will make the region more competitive for potential investors and create employment opportunities.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN