Electronic Clearing at the Ports to begin from Sept 1

The Vice President has announced that the proposed electronic registration or Risk Clearance System at the country’s ports will take effect from the 1st of September 2017.

Speaking at a press briefing on Wednesday at the state house, Accra, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia expressed the commitment of the current administration to improving efficiency and reducing custom clearance time to a maximum of four hours at Ghana’s ports through the introduction of the electronic Risk Clearance System.

He also disclosed an ongoing discussion between the government of Ghana and neighboring countries like Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso, etc. in an effort to collaborate on an integrated system: where goods meant for any of the countries can be cleared at their respective desk at Ghana’s ports – rather than have the goods dumped in the Ghanaian market.  

The Vice President explained some details involved in the new initiative beginning with the introduction of a Risk Engine which he said, will have information about every transaction and relevant agencies embedded in it and will assign risk levels to importers based on their level of compliance with relevant regulatory standards (completely eliminating the need for physical inspection).

Furthermore, he highlighted on basic entries that will form the basis of the e-Risk Profile as follows:

First, all entities will be registered electronically on a shared platform with the Ghana Custom’s pre-arrival system in accordance with existing regulations.

Secondly, all products requiring registration with regulatory agencies will be registered electronically on the same shared platform.

Thirdly, traders will obtain required license, permits and certificates pre-arrival of goods by eMDA Platform.

Fourthly, enhanced evaluation will be introduced to eliminate inconsistency of information provided about goods at various clearing points at the country’s ports (as witnessed in the existing manual system).

In addition, air and sea manifest will be submitted before arrival to eliminate existing bottlenecks experienced in clearing cargos.

Finally on the details highlight of the system, Dr. Bawumia said Ghana’s Customs Compliance will be embedded in the Customs Technical Service Bureau (CTS) to ensure holistic management of all Customs documents.