Commissioner of the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Colonel Kwadwo Damoah, has detailed the various processes importers need to go through to be able to import goods under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Speaking at the launch of the ‘Business Forum on the Start of AfCFTA Trading in Ghana’, Commissioner Damoah noted that, “Any importer bringing goods from an AfCFTA state party and intends to benefit from the ECOWAS preferential tariffs rates is required to provide the following documents from the exporting state party.”
The documents according to Commissioner Damoah include;
- Certificate of Origin/Origin Declaration or Producer/Supplier Declaration (issued by Designated Competent Authority at the country of exportation)
- Export Declaration covering goods from exporting state party
After the provision of the above documents, he notes that the second stage to be completed involve importers creating the declaration of their Bill of Entries (BoE).
“Declarants must create their BoE declaration and attach all required LPCO (licenses, permits, certificate and others),” he said.
“Due to our (Ghana) membership of ECOWAS and other arrangements put in place, the exporting country or country of origin should be a state party of AfCFTA.
So far 34 countries have ratified the agreement with two still in the process of doing so, hence Customs will from time to time publish list of countries that have ratified the agreement to keep importers updated,” he added.
President Akufo-Addo on Tuesday, January 5, 2021, officially launched the ‘Business Forum on the Start of AfCFTA Trading in Ghana.’
Speaking at the launch, Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyeremanten, noted the Government of Ghana has designated the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) as the Competent Authority for the issuance of Rules of Origin Certificate under the AfCFTA.
The Business Forum organised by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in collaboration with the GRA was attended by H.E. Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the AfCFTA Secretariat, Senior Government Officials including the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Senior Minister, Deputy Trade Minister, GRA Commissioner General and Governor of the Bank of Ghana and Captains of Industries.
