Customs calls for automation of freezone system

A Collector of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mrs Sharon Acquah, has advocated the need for policy makers to automate and modernise the customs dispensation which allows some semi-finished raw materials to enter the country free without duties.
She said with the full deployment of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) enabled system in the freezone operations, also known as the suspense regime, the country can save millions of cedis of revenue that could be lost to abuse in the system.
Currently, all operations by the Customs Division of the GRA are done on an electronic data interchange, known as GCNet, which allows for effective monitoring of the entry and exit of goods. The system, however, does not capture the operations of the freezones sub-sector.
Speaking at a tax education programme on Suspense Regimes for customs officials in Accra, Mrs Acquah said the manual system of monitoring and controlling of goods was laborious and prone to avoidable mistakes which must give way to an electronic data interchange.
The freezones concept, one of the International Customs Regimes, is an isolated area within a country considered by law to be outside the customs territory of that country and whose operations are not subject to custom controls.
In Ghana, it is characterised by a lot of “paper work” which needs to be revised to meet requirements of the Revised Kyoto Convention, an international agreement of custom standards and best practices which calls for modernisation and maximum use of  ICT in freezones operations.
The Suspense Regime allows imported goods to undergo processing or further treatment, including domestically produced goods or local importation for eventual exportation or re-exportation without paying taxes.
Highlighting the benefits the country derives from freezone operations, Mrs Acquah said Ghana could attract foreign direct investments, create employment opportunities as well as provide business opportunities for foreign and local investors to undertake joint ventures.
A Chief Collector at the Customs Division of the Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Mrs Gloria Farmer, educated participants on Transit Trade in Ghana and said the issue of transit trade had become very important and crucial as it inured to the benefit of landlocked countries.
She explained that landlocked countries, many of which rely on Ghana’s ports, had limited capacities and dependend on a very limited number of commodities for their export earnings.
Mrs Farmer pointed out that Ghana had benefited from transit trade as transit cargo had added to the cargo at the ports, thereby increasing the revenue of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA).
“Investment opportunities have arisen as the GPHA has expanded container terminals and car parks, as freight stations outside the port also increase in number. This has brought in private sector involvement, which has created jobs for Ghanaians as a result of the increase in cargo at the port,” she explained.
The KIA chief customs collector, however, explained that although transit goods were not subject to import duty, “if the consignment fails to exit the region within the prescribed period and official extension is granted, duty becomes due.” GB