Clearing agents want review of CEMA Act

Clearing agents under the aegis of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents (NCMDLCA), have urged President Mohammadu Buhari to order the review of the Customs and Excise Management Act (CEMA) C45 of 2004.

The group, in a letter to the Presidency, which was obtained by The Guardian requested for the amendment/repeal of the Customs and Excise Management Act C45 of 2004, to include procedures and global tools not contained in the present Act.

The letter signed by its President, Lucky Amiwero, said there a lot of new processes and procedures that are applied in the daily transactions are not covered in the current CEMA.

The Council wants the review to focus on “out-dated provisions in the CEMA that are to be amended or repealed, and treaties, conventions and protocols that contain tools for the application of procedure on international best practice that are presently applied by contracting parties on trade globally, and not contained in the CEMA”

NCMDLCA listed 16 areas that require amendment as a result of the new procedures that are applied daily, and tools for international best practice that should be included in the CEMA.

These include, post clearance audit; risk management system; authorized economic operators (AEO); scanning (NII); appeal procedure and right of appeal without penalty; advance ruling; information publication and administration of trade regulation; financing of customs service operation; and rule of origin.

Others are intellectual property right; mutual administrative assistance; development of electronic system; single window platform; travellers/duty free shop; offence and penalty; tenure and qualification of the comptroller-general

They stressed the need for the Federal Government to constitute a technical and legal committee for amending or repealing the relevant provisions of the CEMA.

“The technical committee with vast experience on trade procedure will look at relevant sections that require amendments, as a result of the new procedures introduced in our daily application and process that are of global best practice, which require simple legislative amendment to aid the trade process in the country,” they said.