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Imports to be cleared in a day - TRA
By Edwin Agola
30th January 2010
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
Imports clearance at Tanzania's entry points will take only 24 hours after completion of modernisation of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), a senior official has said.
To speed up the clearance process, TRA has computerised operations that were done manually in the past, Walid Juma, the Commissioner of Customs told a one day seminar in Dar es Salaam this week.
"Customs operations are now fully automated," said Juma. "The modernisation of customs operations are now enhanced with functionalities that include Asy-Scan, Asy-Bank and Asy -reports which supports Asycuda in viewing supporting documents, electronic payment and enhancing reports available from the system."
He said all these have a bearing in the clearance time an importer waits at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) and at the Dar es Salaam port, where waiting time has been reduced from three days and seven days in 2005, to 41.2 hours and 51.7 hours respectively by May 2009.
He said the aim is to reach best practice clearance time within 24 hours across sea ports, airports and border stations.
According to the Commissioner, the East African Community (EAC) is now a fully fledged Customs Union, implying free movement of goods across borders after signing of the EAC Common Market Protocol in November 2009 by Heads of State.
Elaborating he said, Customs is now embarking into modern risk management techniques which will facilitate identification of areas that need more efforts in terms of risk or revenue loss by introducing pallets scanners in the near future.
"The target is to reduce intervention from the current 14%, 29% and 57% for green, yellow and Red Channels to 60%, 20% and 20% respectively by the year 2013.
He added that an electronic tracking exemption system was introduced last year to relieve holders of carrying hard copies of exemptions lists all the time.
And in order to save time and congestion during the licensing season, an online application for all types of licences issued by Customs has been introduced, he said.
He called for closer working ties between Customs and the trading community to increase smooth movement of goods.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
By Edwin Agola
30th January 2010
Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).
Imports clearance at Tanzania's entry points will take only 24 hours after completion of modernisation of Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), a senior official has said.
To speed up the clearance process, TRA has computerised operations that were done manually in the past, Walid Juma, the Commissioner of Customs told a one day seminar in Dar es Salaam this week.
"Customs operations are now fully automated," said Juma. "The modernisation of customs operations are now enhanced with functionalities that include Asy-Scan, Asy-Bank and Asy -reports which supports Asycuda in viewing supporting documents, electronic payment and enhancing reports available from the system."
He said all these have a bearing in the clearance time an importer waits at the Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA) and at the Dar es Salaam port, where waiting time has been reduced from three days and seven days in 2005, to 41.2 hours and 51.7 hours respectively by May 2009.
He said the aim is to reach best practice clearance time within 24 hours across sea ports, airports and border stations.
According to the Commissioner, the East African Community (EAC) is now a fully fledged Customs Union, implying free movement of goods across borders after signing of the EAC Common Market Protocol in November 2009 by Heads of State.
Elaborating he said, Customs is now embarking into modern risk management techniques which will facilitate identification of areas that need more efforts in terms of risk or revenue loss by introducing pallets scanners in the near future.
"The target is to reduce intervention from the current 14%, 29% and 57% for green, yellow and Red Channels to 60%, 20% and 20% respectively by the year 2013.
He added that an electronic tracking exemption system was introduced last year to relieve holders of carrying hard copies of exemptions lists all the time.
And in order to save time and congestion during the licensing season, an online application for all types of licences issued by Customs has been introduced, he said.
He called for closer working ties between Customs and the trading community to increase smooth movement of goods.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
