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CEPS aims to takeover Destination
Inspection Companies' (DICS) jobs
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, May 6, Ghanadot - The Deputy
Commissioner of Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS),
Mr. Africanus Owusu-Ansah, and the Principal Collector of CEPS,
Mr. Nkrumah Ababio have underlined the need for government to
take a bold decision to allow CEPS to take over its core
functions being performed by Destination Inspection Companies (DICs)
in order to maximize revenue for the state.
Speaking at a stakeholders’ forum in Accra, Mr. Owusu-Ansah
rejected the argument that CEPS was not well-equipped to resume
its destination duties.
He said apart from the fact that classification was the preserve
of CEPS; most of the people who do the valuation at the DICs
were once CEPS staff who resigned to take up appointment at the
DICs. “It cannot, therefore, be said that CEPS lacks the human
capacity for valuation duty”, he stressed.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah said, while CEPS’ proposal to invest $737,410 to
cover office equipment, vehicles, training and satellite
facilities may seem too high, in two months alone (January and
February), one destination company was able to make $1.2million.
“This money could have gone to CEPS and for that matter the
state, instead of a private company if CEPS was given the free
hand to perform its core functions”, he said.
Mr. Owusu-Ansah asked all importers and other stakeholders to
have confidence in CEPS and the government to address all their
needs.
For his part, the Principal Collector of CEPS, Mr. Nkrumah
Ababio, indicated that under the agreement with the DICs which
expired at the end of December, 2008 except that of Gateway
Services Limited (GLS), CEPS was to resume full control of its
core functions of valuation and classification on imported
goods.
He noted that after eight years of their operation, the score
and benefits from the DICs could be assessed by the
stakeholders.
Mr. Ababio said under the current arrangement, the final say
with regard to acceptability of the Final Classification and
Valuation Report (FCVR) issued by the DICs, lies with CEPS. It
also follows that dissatisfied importers appeal to the
Commissioner of CEPS for redress.
“If CEPS, has built the capacity and has the final say, then the
logic is that CEPS can operate the destination inspection
without any inputs from outside, this would facilitate trade,
reduce the cost of doing business, prevent delay, especially at
the country’s entry points and eliminate disaffection for the
government”.
Mr. Ababio noted that if in 2000, it was argued that government,
the major stakeholder, could not provide the needed financial
resources for CEPS to operate, the situation cannot be the same,
because over the last eight years, CEPS had acquired sufficient
capacity both in terms of human resources and logistics to
handle its core function effectively.
He argued that from customs perspective, the DICs activity was
largely seen as document verification and this is not
destination inspection by definition.
Mr. Ababio added that the inspection fees being charged by the
DICs appeared not to be commensurate with the amount and value
of services rendered.
To buttress this point, he quoted Article (VII) of WTO/GATT
Agreement which recommends that fees on services provided on
imported goods match the cost of services rendered.
Again, Ghana’s CEPS, as a member of the World Customs
Organisation, can derive other benefits from other customs
administrations within the organization in terms of the Doha
Agreement on customs-to-customs, cooperation which cannot be
overemphasized.
Other participants mostly endorsed the taking over of
destination inspection by CEPS, once it has been established
that the state institution has the capacity and capability to
undertake the job.
Apart from reducing processing procedure and delays, it was
generally agreed that the nation would save more revenue by
relying on CEPS as the sole destination inspection agency in the
country.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, however
sounded a discordant note, saying the legal implications of CEPS
resuming its core functions of classifications and valuation of
goods would have to be studied.
Ghanadot
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