29-06-2013, 04:42 PM
Customs Clearance Issues Related to the Import of Goods for Public Health Programs
Customs Clearance Issues.pdf (Size: 1.26 MB / Downloads: 163)
INTRODUCTION
Planning for effective drug supply depends on a thorough understanding of the operative supply policies and practices—from acquisition through delivery to distribution centers, intermediate warehouses, and service delivery points.
Supply management must incorporate policies, tools, and practices that facilitate many processes, including customs clearance, and yet reports from developing countries often cite complex customs clearance processes as creating serious bottlenecks that impede the availability of drugs and medical supplies. One hears complaints such as this one from Yemen: “The process of customs clearance is currently not efficient, and is the subject of complaints by both the population sector and donors who reported problems including customs staff not being able to process documents written in English and the large number of signatures required. Clearance delays have been up to six months, which raises the problem of exorbitant demurrage fees” (Patykewich 2007).
Customs clearance procedures, regulated by recipient country governments, change over time and can be quite complex. Failure by importers to master local customs clearance procedures or customs procedures that are themselves prone to breakdowns, may cause long delivery delays, stock shortages, and even stockouts.
DEFINING CUSTOMS CLEARANCE
All countries have in place some customs controls for revenue generation, domestic economic interests, and national security purposes. While there are similarities between countries (like the universal need for shipment documentation, including commercial invoices and Bills of Landing) there are local, specific requirements that have to be addressed. Broadly, customs clearance will be defined as the set of functions undertaken by a national customs authority.
LITERATURE SEARCH RESULTS
This analysis depends on survey responses from expert respondents and does not provide specific clearance process breakdowns or detailed time/cost analyses. For countries included in the Logistics Performance Index (LPI)1 included in the World Bank study, survey results provide a useful point of departure for any discussion or comparison of trade logistics performance and, in this case, a point of comparison for customs clearance times for the shipment of donated goods.
Reducing border-crossing times has been identified as a key element in achieving development goals. The World Bank’s Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Policy Program has developed indicators related to Millennium Development Goal 8 (Global partnership for development), which would be affected directly by customs performance: “Proportion of countries that have reduced their border crossing time to Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average” and “Proportion of countries that have reduced their port clearing time to OECD average.”
A FEW COUNTRY EXAMPLES
One of the most critical tasks any importer or concerned government can undertake is to measure the time and costs associated with cross-border trade. For example, USAID, through its Southern Africa Trade Hub, has been working with the World Customs Organization (WCO) since 2005 to help identify bottlenecks and delays in the customs process that impeded the flow of goods in countries like Malawi and Mozambique.
One country program in the USAID | DELIVER PROJECT made an independent effort to document the clearance process in detail: Tanzania. This was well timed, because the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) was conducting its own analysis at the same time. “The Tanzanian [Revenue] Authority started an annual exercise of random checks across border points. In August 2005 [the TRA reported that] the average time to process documents for imports, from arrival to entry into the country, was eight days, 23 hours across seaports; six days, 15 hours across airports; and three days, nine hours across land crossings. In August 2006 the exercise was repeated to monitor the pace of improvements” (The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 2006).