The Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) has scrapped its revised importer registration fees and charges scheduled to take effect January 1, 2021.
It has thus, maintained the old fees and charges for registration purposes of importers to the delight of the trading community.
The Authority’s decision to forgo its revised fees and charges followed a consensus-building meeting between it and the Ghana Shippers’ Authority on Thursday, January 14, 2021.
Parliament in August 2019, approved new fees and charges to be paid to the GSA by importers starting early last year, implementation of the new fees and charges were however, postponed by the GSA to 2021 for several reasons, including the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GSA’s decision to commence the implementation of the new fees and charges in January this year resulted in the dissatisfaction of the trading community leading to consensus-building-meeting between the two parties.
Stakeholders of the trading community, citing the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on businesses and the coming into operation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) during the meeting, appealed to the GSA to halt the implementation of the new fees until, at least, the first quarter of the year to allow industry players to recover from losses incurred as a result of the pandemic last year.
Director-General of the GSA, Prof Alex Dodoo, at the end of the meeting, gave heed to the plea of industry players and announced that the Authority would maintain the current fees and charges until the time was appropriate.
“So basically, nothing has changed in terms of GSA’s charges at the port,” he said, much to the excitement and applause of industry players present.
“So, the only communication is that the situation is as it is. The status quo remains. I hope that makes it very clear and very simple. It is not like we have increased or we are reducing; we have not,” he added.
He reiterated the determination of his outfit to support the government in improving the ease of doing business in Ghana and called on all stakeholders to support the Authority’s ‘year of enforcement’ drive in a bid to ensuring the protection of consumers and promotion of trade.
