Government rubbishes claims that UNI-PASS technology hasn’t been tested globally

The Government of Ghana has said that allegations that the UNI-PASS technology introduced in Ghana has not been tested anywhere in the world is inaccurate.

According to a statement available to GhanaWeb, “The UNI-PASS technology has been deployed successfully in Tanzania since 2015 under the name Tancis, which World Customs Organization (WCO) has acclaimed as one of the best innovative trade facilitation systems. Cameroun, like Ghana, has deployed the same technology after successfully developing their system early this year”.

Also, “in Ecuador in South America, the system has successfully been deployed since 2010 and it is still operating. The best place to see the efficacy of this UNI-PASS customs management technology is in South Korea itself where since 1998, the system has been deployed to successfully manage their complex and far bigger customs operations.”

The release explained that as part of efforts to ensure a successful implementation of the system, government embarked on a one-year comprehensive programme where staff of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and officials of other relevant stakeholders were trained on the system.

Available records from March 1, 2020, when the project took-off indicate that the implementation has been largely successful, the statement explained.

UNI-PASS is a new port clearing system that processes documents and payments through one window. The new system is a departure from the previous system where ‘valuation and classification’ and ‘risk management and payment’ were handled by different entities, the statement explained.

The single window project is aimed at coordinating all activities at the ports on one platform to reduce time and cost in clearing and exporting goods.

Government noted that the Joint Inter-Ministerial Oversight Committee was only set up to oversee the smooth implementation of the new UNIPASS custom management system to ensure security and revenue at the ports.