ZRA inland clearing gets backing
THE Zambia Customs and Forwarding Agents Association (ZCFAA) has backed the directive by the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) to process all exports from inland ports as this will decongest the borders.
This move will decongesting the border areas espcially where facilities are not always adequate, according to the ZCFAA Chairman, John Mumba.
“It has its own advantages, among them decongesting the border areas where facilities are not always adequate.
“Secondly the nation is developing one stop border post and the way it operates if you are not cleared the cargo inland it will be very difficult to clear from the borders,” Mr Mumba said in an interview.
Mr Mumba indicated that ZCFAA supported Government policy as much as it could.
He however mentioned that the association constantly engaged ZRA and Government at large for any pending issues pertaining implementation of any system.
“If there are any pending issues pertaining implementation of any system that goes for export as well, we do raise them and they are attended to.
“We always support policies which are put in place and when we find challenges, we always get the authority to try and address those concerns which they have been kind to do over the years and we proceed,” Mr Mumba said.
The ZCFAA has 36 strong companies that account for over 80 percentof customs revenue value countrywide.
Recently, ZRA Commissioner Customs,
Sydney Chibbabbuka, called on the clearing and forwarding sector to ensure that all exports were processed from inland ports.
Mr Chibbabbuka said inland processing had numerous advantages such as process efficiency and enhanced trade facilitation because trucks carrying exports do not need to stay longer at the borders.
He said benefits include reduced congestion at the borders thereby minimizing the risk to spread of Covid-19.
He said this when he officiated at the ZCFAA General Meeting on 23rd September, 2021 in Lusaka.
“As a result of exports being processed from inland posts, the results are that border posts will concentrate on imports thereby creating a process efficiency that results in reduced dwell times and costs of doing business,” Mr Chibbabbuka said.
Mr Chibbabbuka also took time to listen to the concerns raised by the clearing agents.
The issues included delays at the
borders, interceptions by enforcement teams for goods such as removals in bond among them.
He assured the clearing agents that customs value is beyond imports and added exports will always be prioritized because they have a huge indirect benefit to the whole country.
The Commissioner further gave various updates about ZRA including the new customs management system that is likely to ride on the name TaxOnline while the customs aspect will be a module on the said system.
He revealed that on the new systems, challenges such as system instability, bonded warehouses and the transit module will all be running smoothly on the new system.
Mr Chibbabbuka further encouraged all stakeholders in the clearing sector to engage the authority mutually in order to get maximum benefits on various issues.