GIPC Aftercare : Customs Controls & Regulations

21-06-2024

GIPC Aftercare : Customs Controls & Regulations

Tuesday the 18th of June a Customs Controls & Regulations Forum was organised by the GIPC aftercare division. The opening remarks were made by Mr Yaw Afriyie, deputy CEO of GIPC. He mentioned to the audience that there are a lot of issues with Customs such as the classification system and that all those issues can be discussed today. GIPC wants to remove bottlenecks of doing business in Ghana.

The 1st presentation was done by Mr Michael Kyei Abankwah, Assistant Revenue Officer of the GRA Customs division (in uniform). He explained about the mandate of the GRA: the Customs Division and its Import requirement procedures. Most important for Customs is raising revenue. Customs also does audits on company’s imports in the past.

Next was a presentation of mr Maxwell Apenkro who is the deputy chief commercial officer of the Ghana International Trade Commission –GITC- which is Ghana’s Trade Defence body – they have to see to it that Ghana abides to all World Trade Organisation – WTO rules (and AfCFTA/Ecowas, EU-EPA, UK-IPA, US-AGOA)  . WTO wants to promote free trade. Mr Maxwell mentioned the exceptions such as for security reasons (trade with Russia) or general exceptions (due to health or moral issues) etc. He also mentioned about tariff reviews in case of dispute settlement . Furthermore GITC are addressing customs classifications and valuation. He explained about dumping ; what is dumping – the export price of a product is less than the price on the original domestic market (where it’s exported from). GITC protects Ghana against dumping. There are only a few countries in Africa who have a trade remedy institution such as GITC (South Africa, Mauritius, Egypt, Madagascar and Ghana).

The final speaker was Mr Fred Asiedu Darty, Head of Business Development and Commercial Department of Ghana Shippers Authority. He gave an overview of the role and activities of the Ghana Shippers Authority. They protect and defend the interest of shippers. He mentioned the problem of demurrage , it’s a sickness in our port – it starts after 7 days if the container has not been cleared, emptied and returned. In 2016 a total of 96 million was paid in demurrage ; in 2022 this was 24,4 million, a significant reduction. The Ghana Shippers Authority also runs warehouses.

After the 3 presentations a panel discussion was started on ways to resolve issues to promote fair market practices and other import and customs issues. Part of the panel were Mr Michael Kyei Abankwah of the GRA Customs division, Mr Tjalling Wiarda, GM of GNBCC representing the foreign business community and 2 others (representing the Food & Drug and /or Standards Authority); the representative of AGI was not present and came at the end just before lunch (with apologies).

In answering a question what the issues were from the companies which are part of the GNBCC, Mr Wiarda answered that Customs use often very high benchmark values to asses duties; in most cases importers negotiate a much lower cost of goods with their supplier and then Customs does  not accept these values and use a much higher benchmark values from their system to asses duties. This problem got support from the audience including from the GUTA representative. Also another company in the audience complained that legitimate and proven import prices are not accepted. Every time they need to appeal because the FOB value has not been accepted. The customs rep Mr Michael Abankwah claimed that values based on the IDF –Import Declaration Form – are always accepted by Customs. The rep of GUTA stated that because Customs never accept the real value and always comes up with higher values, traders automatically start lower the value of their goods because they expect Customs to increase the value automatically. Also it still often happens that a genuine imported value is not accepted by the Customs Officer, subsequently you need to petition against the higher value (why is the higher value not correct) and after that you ‘ need to see someone of Customs’ . This ‘seeing ‘ of someone remains the rot in the system.

Also Mr Wiarda mentioned the fact that the examining of imported goods in Ghana (through seaports) need so many different agencies who come to inspect it beats efficiency and it could be much more effective if less or only  1 agency does all these checks. Next to the Customs Examination Officer, you have the following other agencies:

  1. ECOM (Economic Community of West African States)
  2. FDA (Food and Drugs Authority)
  3. GSA (Ghana Standards Authority)
  4. NIB (National Intelligence Bureau)
  5. NSC (National Security Council)
  6. PREVENTIVE (Preventive Division of the Customs Division, Ghana Revenue Authority)
  7. JPCU (Joint Port Control Unit)

Finally Mr Wiarda condemned the fact there are more than 20 different taxes and levies combined on essential agricultural inputs such as irrigation equipment, fertilizers and seeds . One Member is paying > 70% tax and levies on irrigation material (on FOB value) and these exclude the additional port and shipping line charges. The result is that for instance seeds for Ghanaian farmers (to improve and increase their yield so they can deliver to the domestic market and maybe even export in the future ), are becoming too expensive; all these taxes and levies result in higher input prices for Ghanaian farmers compared to those in more advanced countries. The other example is for instance a big poultry producer in Ghana who produces 1 day chicks need to pay so many levies and taxes on the vaccinations for these chicks (they need to import the vaccinations because they cannot be bought in Ghana)  that the price of one 1-day chick from Ghana becomes more expensive than an imported one from the Netherlands.

A gentleman from the Ministry of Finance acknowledged this problem and told the audience that they are working on it and that these companies can contact the Ministry to explain so that something can be done. Mr Wiarda will liaise with GIPC aftercare to work on this issue with the Ministry of Finance.

Mr Mr Michael Kyei Abankwah of the GRA Customs division told the audience that it is Parliament who have introduced all these taxes and levies and it should be Parliament to do something against it. Customs are only the executors.

At the end of the meeting a group picture was made and a lunch box was distributed

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