CEPS to partner business stakeholders… Towards facilitating trade

MR. SAM Akwasi Yankyera, Assistant Commissioner of the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), has indicated that CEPS needs business, just as business needs the service, adding that to achieve such a cordial relationship, there was the need to change the perception of each other.

For CEPS to effectively manage the sometimes apparently contradictory mandates and objectives, the partnership and support of the business community was critical, he noted.

In this connection, the Commissioner, who was speaking at the International Customs Day celebration in Kumasi, on the theme “Customs and Business: improving performance through partnerships,” said a draft of reforms and measures underlined by partnership with businesses and the private sector, are in place towards the achievement of this objective.                                     

The CEPS Commissioner indicated that his outfit was committed to constructive engagements and partnerships with stakeholders, towards facilitating trade, reducing clearance times, and reducing the cost of doing business at the ports without sacrificing control.

Mr. Yankyera stressed that the easiest way to go backwards was to stand still, and disclosed that this is the time to hold hands as strategic partners, and move Ghana to the next level. According to him, the theme reaffirms the consciousness and sensitivity of the national customs communities to emerging global imperatives, as spearheaded by the World Customs Organisations.

The WCO has, over the years, has provided and continues to provide leadership to support its member customs administration, through the development of instruments and modern technological tools that seek to enhance the performance of customs, to meet the needs of the 21st Century.

Mr. Yankyera said whilst such efforts would continue to be at the top of customs agenda, the global financial down turn, and the threats posed by trans-border organised crime and terrorism, have raised enough anxiety, and the needed impetus to explore alternative strategies that would complement existing ones.

He further noted that the responsibilities of customs worldwide continues to evolve, and stressed the need for each country to fashion out the role of customs to suit its needs, operating environment, national priorities, and cultural heritage.

CEPS, he said, performs many functions, which are, the facilitation and security of international trade, the collection and protection of tax revenue on imports, safeguard the security of the nation, ensuring that imported goods meet set standards, and collection of trade data for statistical and regulatory purposes and for policy formulation, protection of intellectual property rights, while on the international level, customs control and administer the international movements of goods, and are in a unique position to effectively contribute to socio-economic development, through trade facilitation and revenue collection, and to provide increased security to the global trading system, he noted.

According to him, the fiscal dependency by the government on customs revenue was great, and would significantly remain so for sometime, for which reason he said traders expect uniformity, predictability, transparency of customs operations, and that the speedy release of goods was crucial to support the competitiveness of traders.