In order to ensure that the Guyana Revenue Authority has requisite knowledge to effectively administer the country’s tax, trade, and border laws and regulations, several customs officers were exposed to strategic training.
A batch of 78 graduated from Customs Officer Courses I and II where they attained technical knowledge in tariff structures and classification, coasting trade, goods in-transit, warehousing, smuggling, seizures, baggage search, valuation, Value Added Tax (VAT), risk management etc.
The training complements the cadre of staff needed as the GRA advances in its plans to optimize Customs processing and clearance systems, invest in scanning equipment and move to the Harmonised System (HS) 2017 where access to updated classification decisions will be gained, including alignment with international practices and harmonization/synchronization. Efforts are also a foot to transition the GRA from the Total Revenue Integrated Processing System (TRIPS) software to the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA) World, a modern customized solution that will place Customs operation on a paperless trajectory.
The Commissioner-General of the GRA Godfrey Statia said at a recent graduation ceremony, held at the Guyana Police Force Training Centre – Main Auditorium that “we have recognised that half of the time customs officers or revenue officers are blamed, it’s because there is some impediment to the work being completed in a timely manner.” He also stressed that a lot of processes currently require paper documents which lengthens processing time but in the next batch of training GRA will be concentrating more on electronic transactions.
ASYCUDA is on schedule to be piloted by year-end. It will address, among other things, the overarching issues relating to turnaround time for clearance of goods, complex processes and the excessive use of paper among other factors that have irking shipping agents, custom brokers, importers and exporters.
The Customs Officer Course which was reinvigorated after a four-year hiatus is also one of the main criteria for Customs Officers being entrusted with promotions in the department. Moreover, in an economy with oil and gas on the horizon, where monitoring will have to be done by the GRA, Customs Officers were encouraged to take advantage of knowledge and skills that they will develop in this sector.