Under the First Port Duty Rule, Customs officials of the landlocked nations will be at Ghana’s ports, and the importer will be directed to the appropriate country desk to pay if it is actually a transit good.
The Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has said that the government will soon introduce and implement the First Port Duty Rule at Ghana’s ports.
Dr Bawumia said this implementation will happen to help deal with smuggling arising from diverted transit goods supposedly meant for landlocked countries such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia was speaking at the 39th Council and Conference of the Ports Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) in Accra on Monday, July 30, 2018.
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“So much smuggling is taking place through “Transit” trade to neighbouring countries such as Togo, Burkina, Niger, and Mali. Not only does Ghana lose, the other countries also lose revenue when unapproved routes are used for example.”
“For the most part, the goods never leave Ghana. Ghana will, therefore, be introducing the First Port Duty Rule hopefully before the end of the year. Under this rule, the customs authorities of our neighbouring countries will have a presence at our port.”
“So if an importer claims they are going to Mali or Burkina Faso, they just go to the Malian or Burkina desks and pay their duties,” Vice President Bawumia explained.
Dr Bawumia also said that there is the need for the neighbouring countries to be committed to this development in order to help all the countries.
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He further urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to effectively ensure the enforcement of the implementation of the axle load policy, which mandates all member countries to limit a 6-axle truck to a 60-tonne loading capacity in order to prevent the destruction of roads.
“As you may be aware, Ghana has consistently complied with and implemented this loading policy since 2009 when the enforcement came into effect. The goal is to protect the roads infrastructure in our sub-region. Unfortunately, it has been reported that not all other ECOWAS member countries are complying with this policy. This undermines regional cooperation and creates an atmosphere of unfairness in Transit Trade on the various corridors in the sub-region.”
“Ghana is committed to improving its ports and road corridors to enhance international trade with its trading partners. We are therefore open to the best examples and recommendations towards achieving these goals,” he added.