Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) said it is committed to establishing and maintaining a cooperative relationship with the private sector and other stakeholders as an important aspect of its modernisation process.

Brigadier Richardson Baiden, Commissioner of CEPS, said the new approach required inter-agency collaboration in which stakeholders such as Shippers Council, Freight Forwarders, Internal Revenue Service and others could work together to reduce cost in doing business in the country.

He was speaking at an open forum organised by the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) as part of activities marking the industrial week celebrations in Accra on Monday.

The forum was to enable industrialists to share with the Commissioners of the three revenue agencies Value Added Tax Service, Internal Revenue Service and Customs, Excise and Preventive Service the frustrations they go through in their business transactions.

Brigadier Baiden said to enhance investment flow into the country, the CEPS was revising its legal and policy environments to remove anti-investments provisions.

He said CEPS was equally strengthening its valuation and auditing functions to ensure continuing review of its procedures.

Brigadier Baiden said with the introduction of the Ghana Community Network and the Ghana Customs Management System, CEPS was in the position to provide information and communication technology that best met the needs of its clients and to reduce the average clearance time of goods.

"As the system evolves and expands, the sharing pf information and data between CEPS and other bodies like the AGI will be enhanced."

Brig Baiden mentioned mis-declarations, mis-descriptions, under valuation and mis-classification as challenges facing CEPS as far as destination inspection and the application of WTO valuation agreement were concerned.

He said some of these omissions and commissions were part of deliberate measures by foreign companies to out-compete local industries with their products and weaken the country's industrial base.

Mr Ken Bentsi-Enchill, a representative of the VAT Service, said steps were being taken to solve some of the problems pharmaceutical industries faced on the imposition of VAT on some of their inputs.

Mr George Agadey, a representative of the Internal revenue Service, said there were plans for the creation of a refund arrangement, where monies would be transferred from the consolidated account for payment of withholding tax.

Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Private Sector Development, said the country was losing some of its companies and investment opportunities due to high taxes and levies as well as rigid administrative procedures and regulations.