The Ghana Revenue Authority on October 15, began the implementation of the CTN policy with the aim to ensure trade facilitation and increase government revenue.

The stakeholders made the comments on Thursday at a discussion on “Finding the Balance between Trade Facilitation and Revenue Mobilization: Aligning the Incentives of Major Stakeholders in Accra organized by Imani Ghana, Centre for Policy and Education.

Mr Kwabena Ofosu Appiah, the President of the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwards, said the manifest structure, which already existed was more efficient than the CTN hence the need for the suspension.

He said “with international treaties, every shipment that is done into a different country goes along with an export document, but per the treaties that customs has with the World Trade Organization and World Customs Organization, they are able to assess a custom document without a third party getting involved. So what is the role of the CTN?” he asked.

Mr Appiah called for more consultation with stakeholders since there was nothing new to compare to the old system of collecting and managing logical information for cargo and ship at the ports.

Mr Samson Awingobit, the Executive Secretary of the Importer and Exporters Association, supported the suspension of the CTN, saying it was not supporting any new developments far as trade facilitation was concerned.

He said there were so many controversies regarding international treaties adding that government could have done further consultation before rolling the system.

Mr Yaw Kyei, the President of the Association of Customs House Agents- Ghana, said there is a challenge regarding the validation of data with the CTN because of absence of traders relating directly with the Customs Officer.

He commended government for the introduction of the paperless system, which he believed had reduce cost of production and facilitate smooth transactions of businesses.

Mr Nicholas Osae, the Assistant Secretary, Customs Brokers Association, Ghana, throw their weight to the implementation of the system and believed that the platform would bring a level playing field in the current Customs duty payment and valuation Regime, as well as address the disparities in their businesses.

Mr Bismarck Kissi, the Chief Revenue Officer, Ghana Revenue Authority, said the CTN is a platform for collection and management of commercials and logistical information relating to the cargo and ship from port of loading.

“The system is expected to provide data to Ghana Customs and other stakeholders in advance to enable Cargo Review Processes in a manner that ensures the generation of key prior shipment in “real time” to effectively Control, Supervise and Manage import traffic into Ghana”, he added.

He said the platform among other reasons aims to safeguard and facilitation trade in order to significantly reduce the turnaround time for Cargo Clearance which in turn will allow importers to avoid the payment of heavy demurrage fees and generally reduce the cost of doing business.