Tanzania starts new customs system

News 

Sunday, January 19, 2014

BY KENAN KALAGHO

EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA

Officials say TANCIS will mean considerable cost savings for clearing agents, File Photo

DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA - Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) is to introduce a new customs clearance procedure which officials say will be more efficient and cost effective than the present system. It starts on March 1st.
The Tanzania Commissioner for Customs and Exercise Tiagi Kabisi said last week in Dar es salaam that the new system that is expected to be launched March this year is expected to improve the tracking of goods as well as ensure fast clearance.
 Kabisi said there was a need for TRA to ensure that revenue collection is improved through the use of the new system known as Tanzania custom Integrated System (TANSCIS) which will replace the old ASYCUDA++.
“TANCIS has an ability to speed up clearance of goods and tracking movements of goods from point of shipments to landing,” Kabisi said. He said there will be a sharp reduction of costs on the side of the agents.
He also noted that the new system would allow the public to pay the required tax without extra or charging less to the procured goods while saying this has been done to ensure that the old system is dumped which was seen to have many shortfalls due to its manual operational.
He said that beside the delay in clearance of goods, the old system was also denying the government the required revenue.
The new system would lead to improvement of controls through in built automated checks , reduction costs for doing business, monitoring of cargo as well as efficient use of both financial and human resource.
He noted that this would in turn lead to quality services and creation on inventory in customs warehouse for overstayed goods and this would also ensure a continual effective monitoring.
It is said that some of the goods declaration changes will be cargo manifest write-off shifted to Customs Release Order (CRO) stage and the streamlined procedures will be reduced during declaration processing by automation.
The new system is said to be able to enforce security bond management for transit, export and re-export and also warehousing thus improving the management on cargo handling and transfer from one bonded area to another can be guaranteed through detailed manifest and single manifest distribution point.

Added on: Sunday, January 19th, 2014