More than half of all invoices and declarations presented to the Ghana Customs for imports are fake, Customs Deputy Commissioner in charge of Operations, Mr Samuel Akwasi Yankyera, has revealed.

He said about 60 per cent of documents presented to clear consignments at the ports turned out to be fake and this was seriously undermining the aim of the division to expedite clearance of goods at the country’s ports.

His revelation means that the business community would also bear the brunt of the tightened control system to check the under-invoicing and fake documentation. The situation explains why destination inspection companies take a longer time in providing the Final Classification and Valuation Reports (FCVRs).

Mr Yankyera told the GRAPHIC BUSINESS shortly after a forum in Accra with members of the Ghanaian German Economic Association (GGEA) that Customs had started the use of what it called the Gold Card system to insulate compliant clients from suffering from the tightened system.

The GGEA and the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Ghana (AHK) organised the seminar as part of a regular fora to help its members to interact with the relevant authorities to understand the system better, share their challenges and forge a better working relationship with all stakeholders.

The deputy commissioner in charge of operations said currently, about 150 importers/companies had received the Gold Card which entitled them to speedy clearance at the ports, since they had proven over-time that they comply with all the customs procedures.

Customs builds up the historical records of frequent importers over a year before they are awarded the gold card. The holders are randomly checked for continued compliance.

This marks a departure from employing what was known as movement control, where customs checks everything to ascertain veracity before consignments are allowed to be cleared to audit based control, where consignments are followed to the destinations after the clearance where invoices and other supporting documents are checked to confirm the original documentation.

Mr Yankyera also disclosed that having successfully implemented the Ghana electronic clearance of consignments, Ghana customs, which is now a division under the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), was in the process of introducing the Ghana Integrated Cargo Clearance System (GICCS), which would enable stakeholders to log on to a single site for the processing of all transactions, such as unique consignment reference number, permits, exemptions, manifests, declarations and FCVR.

It is the next stage of the public private partnership with the private sector company the Ghana Community Service Ltd (GCNet), which operates the core community system (TradeNet) which serves as the electronic commerce–based platform connecting all stakeholders with the Ghana Customs Management System (GCMS), a database of customs information.

He assured the business community that while working to reduce malfeasance in customs clearance, it was also in their interest to reduce the time of clearing at the port, as that would facilitate trade and also improve their international ratings.

But in spite of the lucid presentation and assurances from the customs officials, concerns still remain from importers and shippers, which range from warehousing to FCVR processing by the destination inspection companies and interpretation of certain laws that impinge negatively on the operations of businesses in the country.

So when Mr Emmanuel Martey, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Shippers Authority took his turn, he devoted the time to explaining how the warehousing system – a commercial place where goods, merchandise or raw materials are stored without duty paid - is operated in Ghana.

He said warehousing was crucial as it afforded the importer or manufacturer the opportunity to defer the payment of duty and taxes until the goods were needed for home consumption or are exported.

To ensure that duties on the warehoused goods were paid and transit goods not smuggled out, Ghana Customs and its partner the Ghana Community Services Ltd (GCNet) introduced the satellite tracking of cargo (GCe-Trak). This is where a device is stuck on a truck which moves goods to another destination.

While Mr Martey commended Customs and GCNet for all the advancements in customs clearing, he called for more devices to be made available for GCe-Trak to forestall the unnecessary delays and that its operations should be decentralised to other terminals, instead of restricting it to only shed 10 at the Tema Harbour.

The Shippers Authority also wants the government’s position on bonded warehousing to be reviewed to permit re-warehousing and each warehouse be assigned a Custom officer, instead of the one officer to so many warehouses in a zone.

The 2011 Budget reviewed the duration for warehousing and re-warehousing of goods, assigning between three months and 12 months for perishables, 12 months for general goods and up to two years for raw materials.

Perishable goods may be allowed to be re-warehoused for a limited period of a year upon approval by the Commissioner of Customs.

“This government decision is not in the interest of shippers since importers make gains from bulk buying and the longer the warehousing period, the more they benefit from economies of scale,” Mr Martey stated.