CTN will eliminate trade malpractices – GRA Commissioner General

The Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority, Emmanuel Kofi Nti, has disclosed that, CTN numbers on imports would only be required from importers whose imports exceed Thirty-Six TEUs per year from the country of exports.

That means importers who import less than 36 TEUs per year would be exempted from CTN compliance.

He made this statement during a media engagement in Accra on the date of implementation, 15th October 2018.

“Importers whose imports, from records exceed thirty-six TEUs per year, will be required to obtain a CTN number in the country of export. This means that any importer who imports less than 36 TEU containers or 18, 40-footer containers per year is exempted from CTN compliance,” he said.

Emmanuel Kofi Nti said the GRA found it necessary to sensitize the general public through the media, having previously engaged stakeholders on the CTN process.

The Commissioner General of GRA told the pressmen, that, the partnership between the GRA and Messrs. Cargo Tracking Note Ltd has given birth to a risk assessment system that intends to boost the efficiency of Customs clearance processes, eliminating malpractices in the import chain.

“The CTN system provides the following benefits: reliable trade database, reliable and transparent data validation source, real time trade data, opportunity for short turnaround time for clearance at the ports and reduction in costs at the ports since payment of demurrage fees will be a thing of the past,” he mentioned.

He said, the CTN policy is going to benefit not just the GRA, but other state institutions such as GPHA, Bank of Ghana and the Ministries of Health, Trade and Defence in ascertaining information relevant to their progress.

“For the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority CTN will help in a broad and more comprehensive view and of global logistic chain, and timely receipt of manifest for effect planning, for the Ministry of Finance, it will help in revenue forecasting, for the Bank of Ghana it would help forecasting of currency flows from the maritime industry,” he said.

The Commissioner of Customs division of GRA, Isaac Crentsil revealed that during the piloting of the CTN policy over 14million dollars of goods were discovered to be under declared.