The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), will from tomorrow, commence and deploy the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS) at all frontier stations and entry points of the country.
The ICUMS is a new port clearing system that processes documents and payments through one window, a departure from the previous system where valuation and classification and risk management and payment were handled by different entities.
A statement signed and issued in Accra on April 24 by the Acting Commissioner-General of GRA, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah, asked all Customs House Agents operating in all Customs offices to process Bill of Entry (BOE) in ICUMS.
Earlier this month, the deployment of the second phase commenced at Takoradi Port in line with the implementation plan for the eventual roll-out of the ICUMS.
In view of the above development, it said all existing declarations being processed in the Ghana Customs Management Systems (GCMS) for which taxes have not been paid by today would be required to be re-processed in the ICUMS as a new BOE from April 28.
The statement said all declarations for permits and e-MDA approvals obtained before April 28, as well as penalties to be paid by April 28, 2020 or goods and vehicles which have overstayed or been confiscated and temporary imports of vehicles and goods not closed would be re-processed after April 28 in the ICUMS.
It said declarations for which payments have been made but not been cleared before April 28 would be continuously processed in the GCNet/GCMS system until May 15 this year.
Direct entry into warehousing, Free Zones and other suspense regimes declarations, the statement noted, would be processed in the ICUMS with effect from April 28 adding that existing ex-warehousing, Free Zones and other suspense regimes declaration would continue to be processed in the GCNet/GCMS system until the cut off period of May 15.
Chairman of the Technical Committee for the Transitional process for the implementation of ICUMS, Assistant Commissioner Emmanuel Ohene, in an interview clarified the vast innovations that the new system brings to Ghana’s supply chain, particularly in Customs administration.
He explained that ICUMS was designed to improve competitiveness for government and private sector.
“ICUMS assured improved satisfaction, whereby tax revenue will increase, while ensuring transparency through anti-corruption measures.The system has an embedded one stop service; an end to end process compared to the separate legacy systems that had operational challenges such as network linkages,” he stated.
For the private sector, he said importers and traders were assured of improved work environment and quicker turn-around time.
Furthermore, Mr Ohene emphasized on the maximisation of productivity, with the introduction of an e-Customs platform which would provide flexibility to e-business and e-trade.
In terms of the single window capabilities of the new system, he said a platform exists for information sharing among government agencies, making the system ideal as an international gateway for commerce.
On March 1 this year, the phase one of the ICUMS was deployed at some selected Customs Frontier stations.
The third phase, which involved Kotoka International Airport and Tema Port, started on April 20.
BY CLAUDE NYARKO ADAMS
