The Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) joins Customs administrations all over the world to celebrate the International Customs Day on Wednesday 26th January 2005.
This day has been designated as such by the World Customs Organisation (WCO) based in Brussels, Belgium to focus attention yearly on the contributions made by Customs administrations towards the total well-being of their various countries and the world at large. The theme for this year is Customs and Commercial Fraud and this is the third time CEPS is celebrating this event.
In Ghana and the ECOWAS sub region, commercial fraud is manifested through under invoicing, doctoring of invoices, false declaration or misclassification of imported goods, concealment of taxable goods, outright tax evasion, smuggling of uncustomed, restricted and prohibited goods, money laundering etc.
The business community at the least opportunity abuse Customs regimes such as Transit, Temporary Importation and Warehousing and divert uncustomed goods onto the local market and deprive the state of much needed revenue. The smuggling of narcotics and other harmful substances is also on the ascendancy.
The WCO has formulated policies to counter and curb these abuses and negative trade practices. This event would be celebrated to focus attention on these policies so that we can implement them and derive maximum benefit as a country.
The World Customs Organisation is based in Belgium, Brussels and has a membership of 164 Customs administrations in the world. It is the umbrella organisation that provides a platform for Customs Services worldwide to deliberate, regulate and formulate policies to guide its members in their operations. Ghana is a full member of this body.
Annie Anipa
Asst. Commissioner, PR
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