Customs and Excise, a critical element in improving T&T's competitiveness, is working on modernising its processes, said Comptroller of Customs and Excise Fitzroy John. Using the 2012/2013 Global Competitiveness Report compiled by the World Economic Forum, as a reference, John said the report must be taken in proper context as several agencies and institutions play a part in determining T&T's competitiveness. "The first thing you take away from reports like this is what is captured under the rubric of efficiency and no attention was paid to several categories that are in these indicators and, as such, an unfair assessment can be made of any one of these parties." John said several indicators are measured in the competitiveness report, but he could only address those pertinent to Customs procedures. Some of the indicators measured were time and cost as well as documents required to import and export cargo. Embedded in each of these indicators, John said, are bank documents, Customs clearance documents, port and terminal handling documents and other transport paperwork.
"But I can only speak for Customs clearance documents."
No more handholding
Regarding the Customs clearance documents, John said as of March, Customs implemented a self-assessment regime which would now have all importers using the Customs border control system to compute their tax liabilities. "There would be no more handholding from Customs. The declarant has to compute and discharge liabilities for himself using the Customs border control systems to calculate tax liability." John said Customs published, as part of the improving the transparency of its operations, dating back to 2011, a series of notices to importers, the subject of which is changing the way the body works to a technology-driven workplace. "The old procedure has contributed to the delays in the document processing stage, which would drive up cost and affect our competitiveness." John explained it took as much as seven days to process documents under the old system.
"If you filed a document with us, you do not get back an approval under three to five days. In some cases, as much as seven days or, in some instances, the documents may have been lost or misplaced because of sheer volume. All these things contributed to the inefficiencies." He said Customs changed its processes and have eliminated the manual checking of documents where all declarants could do their documents checks in a automated environment: Customs border control systems (CBCS), where the Automated System for Customs Data (Asycuda)-the software platform-is used. "We give full recognition to the competencies and skills of the licence clerks and brokers in this country to accurately and truthfully file a goods declaration with us and use the system to complete the tax liability and regenerate an assessment notice under five minutes." Asked if this is happening currently, John said, yes. As of March, all goods declaration above the threshold amount, which is $20,000, is filed electronically from the office of brokers and clerks.
He said there is no need for clerks and brokers to physically bring the documents to Customs, that the back and forth accounted for delays. John said the consequence was to lower compliance burden for business and an annual cost savings to business in excess of $5 million. He said it was unclear if the changes Customs made in March were taken into account in the period under review. John said Customs is working on improving the part it plays in importing and exporting cargo. The competitiveness report looked at obtaining documents for inland transport and handling, Customs clearance and inspection and port and terminal handling.
John said the report apparently did not include ocean transport time. He said the regulatory body is currently working on improving the efficiency of Customs clearance and inspection systems. "There are several considerations that we have taken on board to develop strategies to treat with this and the main one is employees' terms and conditions of work." He said while Customs has introduced a level of automation, there are still several manual steps that remain. "It's an ongoing process which has started, but there is a critical piece of legislation-Customs Amendment Bill- that would bring all parties on board and would create greater efficiency in Customs clearance inspection processes."
Benchmarks
John said the amended Customs Amendment Bill would speak to a number of things under the Customs Act, principally, the change in the time when agents of aircraft and ships present their manifest to Customs. "The present legal framework requires these agents to present their manifest to us within 72 hours after their arrival and departure. In order to improve efficiency and the country's competitiveness, a number of measures has to be introduced." "The ones that are seen as leaders in the marketplace have made these adjustments already. In most instances, the Customs unit in the developed countries is provided with the manifest data 24 hours in advance.
John said the 24-hour advanced system allows the Customs administration sufficient time to deploy its risk management procedures to identify high-risk persons and cargo and to determine what treatment to be applied before they reach the country. "If it's not done beforehand, you would have ensuing delays, which are unavoidable." He said this piece of legislation is before Parliament, which would determine the required days or hours given to the agents before cargo arrives. Asked if he recommended a timeframe, John said, yes, but did not give specifics. "The Parliament dictates the timeframe, but international countries use 24 hours prior to arrival." John said, "Once that is passed, there are modules in the system that we would be able to make better utilisation of."
Technical interface
Apart from the Custom Amendment Bill, John said the Data Protection Act 2011 and Electronic Transactions Act 2011 are the two important legislations for main reform in the system. John said there is much more they intend to do, as Customs has introduced a level of automation, but more can be done with the amended pieces of legislation. The business community has long complained that while it recognises the effort Customs is making, the transition to greater efficiency is taking too long, especially the Customs border control and TTBizLink.
John explained that only some sections under the Data Protection Act have been triggered. "The parts of it that is now up and running is the provision that would allow for the employment of a data commissioner and all his staff to regulate the exchange of data across the electronic platforms in this country." He said Customs provides a one-stop shop at its Customs Examination Station where all the required regulatory bodies carry out simultaneous inspection to reduce delays, but admitted there are areas needing improvement. Asked how long the process takes, he said, "Too many hours in the manual world that is unacceptable today."