Harboursandport.com: Abuja - The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has said that the implementation of the new policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the e-valuation, and e-invoicing, will hinder import and export trade.
The
Comptroller General of Customs, CGC, Hameed Alli (Rtd), who disclosed this in a
statement made available to Harboursandport.com, said the policy is against the
World Trade Organisation, WTO and World Customs Organisation, WCO agreement on
trade.
Recalled
that CBN in a letter dated 8 July 202l informed Customs that they were
deploying a mechanism for verification of prices of goods before allocation of
forex at the point of e-form M registration.
A
statement signed by National Public Relations Officer of the Service, Timi
Bomodi on behalf of the Customs boss, read in part, “The policy, in summary, seeks to benchmark the price of imported and exported cargo. The move has
raised objections from critical stakeholders within and outside the industry
who have expressed valid concerns that require critical considerations. The
practice world over is to domicile adjudication on Customs values for import
and export within the Customs administration of every country.
“Nigeria
being a member of the WCO, WTO and also a signatory to international trade
treaties, including Article VII of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
is constrained to abide by the principles contained therein.”
To
this end, Alli said the Service still stands by its earlier submissions on the
matter, as was clearly communicated to the House of Representatives Joint
Committee on Customs and Excise, Banking and Currencies on 03 March 2022.
“The
Article VII stipulates that the value for Customs purposes of imported/exported
goods should be based on the actual value paid or payable for them.
“This
is commonly referred to as transaction value. This agreement also prescribes
five other methods for arriving at Customs value where the transaction value is
unacceptable.
“They
are transaction value of identical goods, the transaction value of similar
goods, deductive value method, computed value method, and fallback method applied sequentially.
“The
NCS as a government agency aligns with the WTO Agreement on Customs Valuation,
ACV as it aims for a fair, uniform, and neutral system for the valuation of
goods for Customs purposes.
“This
conforms to commercial realities, and outlaws the use of assumed values for
customs purposes. It is our view that the use of benchmarking in valuation as
proposed by the CBN policy will negate the aim of the ACV and result in
disputes, delays, and uncertainties.
“The
WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) remains the Service's principle guide
for trade facilitation.
Therefore,
NCS is always seeking new approaches to enable the expedited clearance of goods
from our ports by adopting new technologies, harmonizing and simplifying our
procedures all of which is purposely designed to reduce cost.
“The
House of Representatives Joint Committee on Customs and Excise, Banking and
Currencies had directed that all agencies with defined roles in the supply
chain meet to harmonize procedures with particular reference to resolving the
issue of value for trade purposes. This meeting is yet to take place, therefore
there could not have been any agreement supporting the CBN initiative as
reported in the news.
“We
look forward to the robust deliberation that is expected to occur from this
meeting as directed. Until then we shall continue to abide by the principles as
contained in the ACV for all import/export transactions,” he noted.
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