Working session between the Directorate General of Customs and the National Office of the Trade union of Congo (SCC)
Importers report scanning containers unloading declared as unsuspicious
27 Mar, 2019
The Director General of Customs and Indirect Taxation, Guénolé Mbongo Koumou, held a working session, on Wednesday, March 27, 2019 in Brazzaville, with the delegation of the National Office of the Trade Union of Congo (SCC), led by its president, Vincent Ngambi.
The Discussions focused on claims contained in the document prepared by the traders. This document focuses on four aspects. Among others: the problem of customs clearence of goods at the port authority of Pointe-Noire; the customs in Brazzaville; an appendix document titled “Memorandum on hassles and pressures faced by traders in the economic capital of Congo and their possible solutions.”
Pressures include scanning unloaded containers declared as unsuspicious by corrupt customs agents. In fact, they follow and impose additional taxes on traders who have yet cleared their goods at the port of Pointe-Noire, and who are preparing to place them in deposit. Thus, they violate the provisions of the Decree of 2014, which prohibit the follow-up of containers already cleared and declared as unsuspicious.
Other behaviour reported by the merchants: the lateness of customs agents at their work place. This results in a 14-hour office opening fees charged to importers. There is also the Cotecna post-scanning tax, which is assessed without involving customs. This causes a double payment of fees by traders. “All of these additional taxes push the merchant to sell more expensive their goods, to offset expenses. The result is that the prices are galloping and the basket of the housewife is getting lean”,Vincent Ngambi said.
Call for customs agents to be born again
In response to all these grievances, the director general of Customs and Indirect Taxation called the customs divisional directors to uphold customs officer's ethics, that is to say breaking with malpractices as fraud, delay in service, etc. He promised the traders to find good solutions to their problems as soon as possible. In particular, to make the borders of Congo, “SMART Borders (Securing, Measurement, Automation, Risk Management, Technology). Electronic and smart borders for seamless trade and movement of people and goods”, a theme on which was celebrated the International Customs Day (on 26 January 2019).
