International Monetary Fund (IMF) Regional Technical Assistance Center for Central Africa (Afritac-Centre)
Brazzaville hosts the Regional Workshop on Strengthening the Management, Monitoring and Control of Suspensive Regimes and Exemptions by ECCAS Customs
09 Mar, 2023
For four days, from Monday March 6 to Thursday March 9, 2023 in Brazzaville (capital of the Republic of Congo), delegates from 9 countries out of 11 members of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), reflect on the strengthening the management, monitoring and control of suspensive regimes and exemptions by Customs in this region. The related Workshop was opened by Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance.
The objective of the Workshop is to assess the current strategies, practices and challenges of Customs, in the management, monitoring and control of exemptions and suspensive regimes at the respective national level, as well as to identify and initiate measures which will allow them to strengthen their system, with a view to reducing abuse and loss of revenue.
"The Atelier de Brazzaville has the great merit of intervening at a time when most of our countries, if not all, have embarked on vast projects of economic and financial reform, one of the major challenges of which lies in the need to rationalize the mechanisms for mobilizing public revenue,” said the Congolese Minister of Economy and Finance.
According to Jean-Baptiste Ondaye, “it is legitimate for States to resort to exemptions and suspensive regimes in the implementation of their economic and social development policies. However, customs practice highlights certain weaknesses in controlling the life cycle of derogatory regimes. These weaknesses thus compound the negative factors in the revenue mobilization process. This is the reason why the Brazzaville Workshop is mainly intended to strengthen the capacities of managers and main collaborators of the structures in charge of monitoring exemptions and suspensive regimes”.
Some themes submitted to the reflection of the participants
Among other topics that will be debated over 4 days are: the role and involvement of Customs in Government decisions; ambitions and regulatory frameworks of Regional Economic Communities (RECs); loss of earnings caused by exemptions; day-to-day management of exemptions by specialized services and those in charge of customs clearance; the management of exemptions and suspensive regimes in the customs clearance system (SYDONYA/CAMCIS); ….
This Workshop is led by Ms. Madeleine Hudon, expert in Customs Administration at the IMF, and Mr. Bernard Zbinden, Resident Advisor in Customs Administration at Afritac-Centre.
The 9 countries of origin of the delegates to the Workshop are Burundi, Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Sao Tomé & Principe and the Republic of Chad.
At the end of the Workshop, recommendations will be made to further harmonize the legal framework and procedures at ECCAS level.
The Communication Unit of the Ministry of Economy and Finance
