SL Customs streamlines cargo clearance procedure
Sri Lanka Customs (SLC) collects over 50 per cent of state tax revenue mainly from international trade although trade inflows plunged during the country’s lockdown during COVID-19 and the current economic crisis, new Director General Customs P.B.S.C. Nonis said.
On a daily average, Customs used to clear over 1000 full container loads (FCLs) at import and around 500 FCLs at export and there was no delay in clearance by custom officers, he told the Business Times.
He noted that the cargo clearance process has now been streamlined with automation and there was no delay in the container clearance except a few suspicious cases.
Most of the custom officers are working diligently with a commitment to collect tax revenue for state coffers; he said adding that the complaints of corruption allegations and irregularity charges in imported goods clearance of migrant workers were baseless.
However he noted that verifications of the authenticity of licences, standards, and permits were coordinated via electronic means to ensure expedited release, and final clearance of some of the suspicious importations requiring such documents was put on hold and will be subject to post clearance inspection and audits.
According to Finance Ministry data, SLC is expected to reach the revenue target of Rs.715 billion set for the year in the budget 2022.
SLC has been able to reach 60 per cent of this target as of August 31, a senior Treasury official said.
Customs Media Spokesman, Deputy Director of Customs ( Legal Affairs) Sudaththa Silva told the Business Times the importation of some of the import restricted non-essential items via illegal channels and hiding in containers of packages of goods of migrant workers in West Asia has increased during the past couples of years and at present as well.
Unscrupulous businessmen, affected by import restrictions, were in the practice of smuggling banned non essential items along with packages of migrant workers in shipments which had to be detained by the Customs for inspection and necessary action to confiscate such items, he revealed.
This procedure will take some time and Custom officers involved in inspections have no other option other than keeping the containers in warehouses for several days, he said adding that it will also inconvenience genuine persons sending goods to Sri Lanka.
Routine cargo selectivity criteria were tailored to release medium and low risk cargo with minimum or no Customs intervention.
As a result, around 70 per cent of imports selected for examination through non-intrusive cargo scanning equipment were released without inspection, he disclosed.
However several affected persons complained that the Revenue Task Force of the Customs was in the practice of detaining 95 per cent of containers being arrived at warehouses for clearance for several days on suspicion of smuggled goods tip offs of nonexistent informants.
They claimed that they had to pay US$50 per day as delayed payments including informants’ share of 30 per cent, penalty charge of 30 per cent and Customs fund 10 per cent. And only 30 per cent goes to state coffers.
Responding to these allegations, the Customs Department noted that action will be taken to confiscate or re-export nonessential goods smuggled into the country.