West Blue Consulting, the technical partners of the Ghana National Single Window (GNSW) project has disclosed that 25 airlines electronically submit their manifests to the Pre-Arrival Assessment Reporting System (PAARS) up to four hours before landing at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra.
Previously, they were submitted in hard copies to ground handlers, after the arrival of the airlines at the airport.
The PAARS is a modernized system that has been developed by the Customs Division of Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as part of the implementation of the GNSW project to enhance revenue mobilization, improve border security and customs clearance, overcome duplication across regulatory agencies and promote trade facilitation.
The Chief Executive Officer of the West Blue Consulting, Madam Valentina Mintah who disclosed this to Members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism during a working visit to the company, explained that; “customs and other agencies can get access to data in a timely manner to complete clearance processes even before the ship or plane arrives”.
This she would reduce the time and cost of doing business and aiding risk management and effective revenue collection for the country.
Madam Mintah added: “We will be working in the coming months with International Air Transport Association (IATA) to start using a format for submission called Cargo XML”.
Since the introduction of the GNSW’s PAARS last year, traders are able to access Customs Classification and Valuation Report (CCVR) within 48 hours, she revealed.
In some cases, within an hour that is substantial improvement from the previous situation whereby it used to take traders more than a week or two weeks just to get their CCVR, the CEO stated.
Madam Mintah was quick to add the system has brought some efficiency at the ports, reduced time, reduced corruption, and cost of doing business.
Another significant achievement Madam Mintah mentioned was the country’s historic performance on the recent World Bank’s Ease of Doing rankings.
Ghana had moved an impressive 13 places up on the Trading Across Borders in the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report. The report accredited the performance to the GNSW project initiated by the government.
The Doing Business 2017 report, titled ‘’Equal Opportunity for All’, showed that Ghana was placed at position 108 out of 190 countries surveyed in the Overall Ranking of Ease of Doing Business – an improvement from 111 in the previous report.
In the sub-Saharan Africa sub-region, Ghana ranked in the Top 10, coming 9th, out of the 47 countries ranked in the region. This is evidence that the Government of Ghana is pursuing active reforms to ensure the Ease of Doing Business in Ghana.
The Customs Division of GRA took over the processing of the CCRV from the destination companies in September 2015. The CCRV replaced the destination inspection report also known as the Final Classification and Valuation Report (FCVR). In spite of the successes chalked so far through the implementation of the PAARS, she said there was still more room for improvement.
Based on the experience of the Single Window implementations in other countries, West Blue estimated that the GNSW project would reduce the cost and time of international trade (import, export and transit) in Ghana by 50 per cent and 25 per cent respectively over the next five years.
The members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Trade, Industry and Tourism who expressed satisfaction with the level of work done so far by West Blue Consulting , urged the management of the company to keep up the good work.
According to them, they were very impressed with the performance of the West Blue despite the company’s short span on the project which aims among others things at reducing delays at the ports and maximisation of revenue for the government.
The Chairman of the Committee, Titus Glover said the committee was impressed with the level of work done by West Blue in the implementation of the GNSW.
He added: “I am very impressed with the West Blue team’s zeal at reducing cargo time at the ports and maximising revenue for the development of the country”.
“With this impressive performance, we are going out there to be good ambassadors of the project”, Mr Glover who is also the Member of Parliament for Tema East assured the management and staff of the West Blue Consulting.
Instructively, the GNSW project was initiated on 1st September 2015 by the Government of Ghana to enhance the country’s trade and economic development and secure and increase government revenue. It was officially launched in 1st December, 2015.
Indeed, the Single Window concept was developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) in 2005 as an effort to simplify, harmonise and standardise international trade procedures and associated information flows between trade and government and within government itself.
UNECE, through its UN Centre for Trade Facilitation and Electronic Business (UN/CEFACT), defined Single Window as “a facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements. If information is electronic, then individual data elements should only be submitted once”.
By Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, African Eye Report
