Conflicting Ministries Delay Operation Of Customs Facility

By Joe Dinga Pefok

A protracted conflict between the ministries of Finance and Commerce over the control of the Electronic One Stop Shop for Foreign Trade Operations, e-GUCE, at the Douala Port is reportedly the cause of the delay for the modern clearance facility to go operational.

The electronic version of GUCE, the One Stop Shop, which was presented to big business operators and journalists in Douala December 19, 2009, The Post learnt, is supposed to facilitate customs clearance operations. The e-GUCE was supposed to have long gone operational but for the conflict of which of the two ministries should have control over the facility.

The Post was reliably informed that that a decree to legalise electronic commerce by the One Stop Shop is still being awaited. Our sources said a text in that regard was supposed to have been presented in parliament during the last session, but that the session ended without anything said about it.

The Post gathered that due to the juicy state of the One Stop Shop, ministers and senior officials in the Ministries of Finance and Commerce are ducked in a battle over its control. Even the Ministry of Transport, The Post was told, wants to be a major partner in the project.

Since the One Stop Shop is directly operated by the General Directorate of Customs, the Ministry of Finance argues that it is supposed to have control of the facility. Till date the One Stop Shop, which was created in 2000, has been under the Ministry of Finance. But the Ministry of Commerce is arguing that since the One Stop Shop is for foreign trade operations the ministry is supposed to be the supervisory authority of the One Stop Shop.

As for the Ministry of Transport, it is the supervisory authority of the Douala Port Authority and thus argues that it should be considered a major partner. Customs Clearance

Operations By Internet             

With the e-GUCE importers and or their clearing agents will no longer need to travel to the Douala Port for customs clearance operations. Rather, the operations will be done by internet between the One Stop Shop and the importers or clearing agents. The Douala Port is said to handle some 95 percent of Cameroon’s foreign trade.

While presenting the One Stop Shop to the press, the Director General of Customs, Mrs Minette Libom Li Likong, who doubles as the Board Chairperson of the One Stop Shop for Foreign Trade Operations, alongside the General Manager of GUCE-GIE, Isidore Bihaya, assured that the e-GUCE is set to go operational.

According to official documents, the Cameroon Government created the One Stop Shop for Foreign Trade Operations with the intention to boost national economy performance. The coming of the One Stop Shop reduced customs clearance procedures, which used to  last for weeks, to barely four days.

It was stated that in order to consolidate and improve on their results, ‘GUCE has set up e-GUCE”. Going by officials, “e-GUCE is about a platform for data exchange that enables automated processing of Foreign Trade procedures, that is to say, data exchange among different partners”.  As for the functioning method of e-GUCE, it was stated that a username and a password will be given to each user (importer) as soon as his or her registration at the GUCE office is completed.

Whenever the importer or his clearing agent wants to carry out a customs clearance operation, he will simply “go to the GUCE website, choose the appropriate electronic form, fill it and send it in a secure and automated way to concerned GUCE services”.

The Littoral 1 Chief of Customs Sector, Edwin Nuvaga Fongod, explained that when the e-GUCE will go operational, an importer in any part of the country who is registered with the GUCE office will carry out his customs clearance operation sitting inside his office. “Such an importer will simply have to scan all the necessary documents for the operation and send to the concerned GUCE services by internet.

All the transactions between the importer and the concerned GUCE services will be by internet,” he said. He said even when it comes to the payment of taxes and fees related to the imported items,an importer will not need to travel to the GUCE office, as he can simply ask his bank to pay the money directly to the concerned GUCE services.