The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has stated that effective June 1, 2020, all transactions related to the import and export of goods at the various ports in the country shall be processed through the Integrated Customs Management Systems (ICUMS).
The move, according to the GRA, was aimed at coordinating all import and export activities at the ports on a single platform to reduce cost in clearing and exporting of goods.
ICUMS is a new port clearing system that processes documents and payments through one window and the system is a departure from the previous system where ‘valuation and classification’ and ‘risk management and payment’ were handled by different entities.
The deployment of ICUMS, which started yesterday at the Tema Port and all other entry points, is envisaged to replace the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAARS) which was being handled West Blue and the GCMS which was jointly operated by the Customs Division of GRA and GCNet.
The GRA in a press statement issued in Accra on Monday, signed by the Acting Commissioner-General, Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and copied to the Ghanaian Times, however, said between April 28, 2020 and May 31, 2020, transactions in respect of import and export manifest can be processed through either the ICUMS or the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS) for the Tema Port as well as all other entry points.
“All existing transactions commencing prior to the 31st of May 2020 for which processing have not been completed in the GCMS (before or after payment of duty) shall be processed through the ICUMS,” the statement said.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry in March 2018 signed a contract with the Ghana Link Network Services Limited in collaboration with Customs UNI-PASS International Agency (CUPIA) of Korea Customs Services to introduce the UNI-PASS Systems in Ghana for a period of ten years at a cost of $40 million.
However, the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF) has kicked against the government contract with Ghana Link Network Services and the implementation of the UNI-PASS system in Ghana.
According to the Institute, the GCNet and West Blue Consulting systems were superior and were working perfectly and thus there was no need for a new system.
GIFF in a situation report on the deployment of UNIPASS/ICUMS at Takoradi copied to the Minister of Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanteng, cited by this paper, cautioned that the nationwide implementation of the UNI-PASS system, now Integrated Customs Management System will adversely affect their operations.
“The myriad of problems facing declarants mostly due to lack of proper mapping of the process flow, inadequate training of declarants and unresolved systemic issues must be addressed,” the report said.
But government in a statement it issued a couple of weeks ago debunked reports that UNI-PASS, has no track record and the required competence to execute the work at hand and that the UNI-PASS technology had not been deployed or tested anywhere in the world was inaccurate.
“The UNI-PASS technology has been deployed successfully in Tanzania since 2015 under the name Tancis, which World Customs Organisation (WCO) has acclaimed as one of the best innovative trade facilitation systems. Cameroun, like Ghana, has deployed the same technology after successfully developing their system early this year,” the statement said.
“The decision to discontinue with the services of GCNet and other service providers was informed by the need to replace the multiplicity of vendors with a single service provider deploying an end-to-end system,” the statement said.
BY KINGSLEY ASARE
