Commissioner General of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Khurshid Sattaur said that by the end of the first quarter of 2013 a study will be completed to determine the best way to implement the Single Window Application System (SWAPS) at Customs House.
“The single window contract was awarded to Crown Agents to determine the legislative requirements and procedures.
Some amount of reform will have to take place,” said Sattaur in a recent interview with this newspaper. He said that in addition to legislative reform, software will also need to be developed to support the new system.
He said that the aim of SWAPS is to allow for a single agent to take action on behalf of the importer by engaging various agencies in order to obtain licences and permits, and to expedite the processing of the importation or exportation.
At present, the process requires a broker on behalf of an importer or exporter taking those documents down to Customs House after having obtained the requisite licence and permits from various other state agencies. The processing of the documents at Customs House could take days depending on the type of transaction and the nature of the goods being imported.
Speaking with Stabroek News, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ron Webster said that the information his organisation received suggested that the timeframe given by Sattaur was correct.
“[The study] should be done by first quarter 2013,” he said. ‘But a lot of input is necessary to make it work,” he added.
Webster is of the view that the biggest problem with the new system would be the training required by all stakeholders.
“There must be training for the brokers and the customs [officers] themselves,” said Webster.
“The Customs and Trade Administration (CTA) [of the GRA] would have to take the lead role with the private sector playing a role also. We will be discussing this with the CTA,” he said.
Webster noted that if it is not done properly there could be slippages. Asked whether the main objective of the initiative was to prevent fraud and smuggling or to improve competitiveness and speed up transaction time, Webster said that it came about because of a combination of factors.
He said government’s need to ensure revenue collection is important but when documents “sit around” and things do not get done then it is bad for business.
Asked about the optimum timeline for the implementation of the SWAPS, he said that he would like to see it implemented by mid 2013. However, this would be dependent on a number of factors.
Webster said the use of SWAPS is common in Europe and he spoke of the necessity for a smooth transition to the new system to ensure no holdups of import or export documentation.
The need for such a facility was recently brought to the attention of the public by way of a letter from Webster. He said in that letter that the PSC was also involved in a trade facilitation forum at which the decision was taken to implement SWAPS.
“The PSC also engages directly in structured dialogue sessions with the GRA to ensure more efficient service for the promotion of trade,” he said in the letter.
Webster said Guyana’s private sector, through the Private Sector Commission, has the unprecedented opportunity to influence government policy through the mechanism of the National Competitiveness Strategy which created Public-Private Dialogue Bodies (PPDB’s) and a National Competitive-ness Council.
