No manual commercial declarations after June

MBABANE – The Department of Customs and Excise intends to stop accepting the manual system of commercial declaration of goods at the points of entry by July 1, 2010.

The department is currently rolling out an automated data capturing system called ASYCUDA++ at the country’s points of entry.
It is believed that the system will make declarations faster, as well as promote trade.
The department has already installed the system at the Ngwenya, Lomahasha and Mhlumeni Border Posts, as well as at the Matsapha International Airport, the Inland Container Depot at Matsapha and at the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) entry point.

The latest entry point to implement the ASYCUDA++ system is the Lavumisa Border Post, which began implementing it yesterday.
Efforts to get comment from the department’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Wendy Dlamini were futile.    
According to ASYCUDA++ Project Manager Lucky Gamedze once the department has completed installing the system at the Lavumisa and Mahamba Border Posts, they will move on to install it at the Matsamo, Managa, Sandlane and Sicunusa Border Posts.

“We started implementing the automated system at the Lavumisa Border Post today (yesterday)  and our officers will be busy at Lavumisa for the next two weeks making sure everything goes according to plan. We will then move on to implement it at the Mahamba Border Post and thereafter, we will roll out the system at the other points of entry namely, the Matsamo, Managa, Sandlane and Sicunusa Border Posts. Once we have installed the system at the above mentioned points of entry, we will have completed with the exercise. We hope to complete installing the system at all points of entry in the country by July 1, 2010 and once we have finished, we intend closing all manual commercial declarations at the said points of entry,” Gamedze explained.

Elaborating, he said once the department stops accepting the manual system of commercial declaration of goods at the points of entry, only commercial declarations made through the system will be accepted.
“The good thing about the system is that for the trader, it will become faster to declare goods and this is expected to facilitate trade,” he added.

Gamedze further said the department was currently engaging their South African counterparts to link the local system with theirs so that data could be captured once, sparing the trader, the business community and the general public from spending too much time trying to declare goods.
According to a statement issued by the Acting Commissioner of Customs Mary Dube, after implementing the system at the Lavumisa Border Post the department will move on to implement it at the Mahamba Border Post.

“The Department of Customs and Excise would like to inform all traders, the business community, the general public and relevant stakeholders that with effect from April 12, 2010 the Lavumisa Border Post will be fully automated and on April 26, 2010 the Mahamba Border Post will follow,” reads the statement in part.
Elaborating, the statement says “all companies are requested to register with the ASYCUDA Section at the Interministerial Building in Mbabane to avoid delays at points of entry.”

Companies that are involved in transits are also advised to update their transit bonds. The statement also says companies that want to declare goods at their offices before they reach the destined point of entry will be required to register with the accredited service provider.

“All companies doing more than 20 entries per day are advised to register with DATANET Services to be able to use the Direct Traders Input (DTI) facility for remote capturing and submission of all customs declarations. All companies using the Deferred Payment Scheme (STR accounts) must submit their entries using the ASYCUDA computer system before or on June 1, 2010,” reads the statement in part.