Tanzania has started preparing itself towards full implementation of the East African Community’s single customs territory (SCT) by empowering country’s clearing and forwarding agents (CFAs) with training on how to handle all issues related to the newly developed system.
The initiative is part of the preparatory work towards the implementation of the EAC Customs Union protocol that Tanzania is a signatory, followed by other four EAC states Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
SCT is an important stage towards full attainment of the Customs Union which is achievable by the removal of restrictive regulations and/or minimization of internal border controls on goods moving between the partner states with ultimate realization of free circulation of goods.
Speaking at the Tanzania-Kenya border of Namanga, Arusha regional manager of the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Aminiel Malisa said SCT allows the deployment of revenue officers of EAC landlocked countries at the Dar es Salaam Port to collect revenue for goods destined for their respective countries.
“Currently, when goods arrive at the first point of entry in one partner state and are destined for another partner state, they are declared as transit goods. This means the owner or transporter has to post a customs bond to be able to transport the goods from the point of entry such as the Dar es Salaam Port to the border,” the official said.
“Indeed, this takes a lot of time and energy and eats up the region’s resources. So, the training is meant to empower agents with skills on how they can operate with this new SCT arrangement,” he said.
“Under SCT arrangement, clearing and forwarding agents will be required to work on all issues related at a particular cargo at the entry port,” he said, adding that similar arrangement will be used for the on-transit cargoes.
According to Malisa, the new arrangement will increase efficiency, boost government and clearing agents’ revenues as well as easing the task of clearing and forwarding.
Citing examples, Malisa said that a clearing agent based at Tunduma of Tanzania-Zambia border can clear the cargo or transport his/her customer’s cargo through Mombasa Port when he/she is just at Tunduma border.
“Right now, documents of releasing/receiving cargoes will be processed once in the entry point country, and where the cargo is going they will only be required to get only the exit note. We’ll not work on other papers as everything will be seen in online systems of the responsible revenue authorities,” he said.
Training facilitators, Isaac Marandu said in an effort to easy work clearing agents will be given a password so as to access the system in order to process cargoes and settle payments in an online system known as Tanzania Customs Integrated System (TANCIS).
TRA Deputy Assistant Education Officer Sigismund Kafuru said implementation of the new system is one of the EAC’s missions of increasing efficiency and revenue collections, easing importation of goods and transporting cargoes in member countries as well as increasing earnings for clearing agents. Enditem
