Latest update March 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 20, 2016 News
Auditor General Deodat Sharma has found that there have been “serious breaches” of the Customs
Act by the Customs and Trade Administration. He warned that this can contribute to severe loss in revenue as was the case in the past.
Regulations under the Customs Act provide for the issuance of a Permit for Immediate Delivery (PID). Immediate delivery refers to the procedure under which an importer can take delivery of a shipment as soon as it is unloaded and inspected.
Under the Customs Regulation 50 (2), a permit for immediate delivery prior to goods being entered (processed fully) may be issued for perishable goods and any other goods for which delivery can be permitted without any risk to the collection of any duty and other monies payable upon the goods.
A permit is supposed to be issued when immediate release of such goods is necessary to avoid unusual loss or inconvenience to the importer. Goods that qualify for processing through the PID facility include goods perishable in nature e.g. hatching eggs, fruits; medical supplies, goods for use on Government projects/contracts that are subject to duties and taxes, fuel, raw materials for local manufacturers.
The authority to approve and issue a PID has been delegated to the Head of Customs and Trade Administration.
In his most recent report, Audit General Sharma said that Regulation 50 (9) made under the Customs Act requires that goods for immediate delivery be entered within 10 working days from the date of the permit for the delivery of such goods, excluding Sundays and public holidays. However, he said that at the time of reporting in September 2016, four PIDs for which estimated assessed taxes exceeded $12.8M remained outstanding.
In addition, Sharma said that the examination of a sample of 220 entries in the PID Register revealed that 68 entries with a total Cost Insurance and Freight value of $8.682 billion and assessed taxes of over $3.5B were entered on an average of 16 days over the stipulated time frame.
Sharma said that failure to ensure that the PID facility is operated within the stipulated framework constitutes a serious breach of the Customs Regulations and can result in loss of revenues and long delays in completing ship and aircraft files.
Customs responded to Sharma’s findings. The Administration said that care is taken to minimize the time PIDs are outstanding.
“However, delays may occur on the account of consignees’ inability to secure all the documentation, such as remission letters and certificates of origin, required for processing PIDs.”
In the past, the PID procedure was abused. For example, Dr Ranjisinghi ‘Bobby’ Ramroop had secured a PID for the uplift of his printing press. That did not fall under the stipulated requirements.
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