Customs to commence pre-arrival risk assessment at port

As part of its preparation to take over the Destination Inspection (DI) scheme from DI service providers in 2014, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has received the approval of the Federal Government to commence the Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) in Nigerian ports.

PAAR is a dynamic, real time and consistent Risk Management platform which will be utilised by Customs and other regulatory agencies including commercial banks for classification, valuation, price verification and added value in a modernised risk management environment to remove the inefficiencies involved in destination inspection system.

Currently, the DI service providers Cotecna, Global Scansystem and SGS are making use of Risk Assessment Report (RAR) for valuation of goods at the port.

The Ministry of Finance has granted approval for the pilot scheme of PAAR to be test-run in the port alongside the DI RAR in preparation for the full implementation of the Destination Inspection (DI) by Customs, said Wale Adeniyi, national public relations officer, deputy comptroller, at a stakeholders’ forum in Lagos.

According to him, Customs is yet to decide on the port where the test-run of PAAR will kick off in no distant time. The idea of commencing the test-run exercise, he said, is to enable the service achieve seamless transition into managing the DI scheme and to also help minimise the likely challenges that may arise as a result of the handover.

While soliciting the support and collaboration of stakeholders which would help to ease the teething challenges the service may likely encounter, he noted that one of the components of DI service, i.e., scanning, would be piloted at the Tin-Can Island Port and thereafter at other ports.

The new PAAR system will provide an integrated risk management platform shared by all the regulatory agencies to enhance revenue collection, border security and trade facilitation.

“PAAR system will also remove manual document processing of import transactions resulting in errors and delays; insufficient risk management measures capable of identifying document falsification resulting in multiple Risk Assessment Report (RAR) for the same consignment and double charging by the government; lack of effective communication method such as SMS real time notification and lack of two-way feedback on assessment outcomes,” said Customs management.