ICUMS

Reminder: Improvement in Bonded Warehouse Management (Company Type WW), (i.e., enforcement of Section 88 of Customs Act 2015, Act 891)

(1) There is expected improvement in ICUMS to self-manage duration of goods in the customs bonded warehouses. This will be in accordance with Section 88 of the Customs Act 2015,Act 891.

(2) This is expected to affect all customs bonded warehouses (i.e., private, commercial and manufacturers-in-bond).

(3) Section 88 of the Customs Act 2015 (Act 891) indicates the length of stay of goods when warehoused from the date on which the goods were warehoused (i.e., when Gate-in Confirmation is completed for the consignment at the bonded warehouse).

(4) They range from a maximum of three (3) months for perishables to a maximum of two (2) years for raw materials, as follows:

(5) ICUMS Procedure:

a. Registration of a customs bonded warehouse to include:

- Licence validity date

- Goods category(ies)

- HS Codes (at 6digits)

- Premises bond with validity period

- Removal bond with validity period

b. Validation procedure (current)

- During BOE submission, premises bond must be valid and sufficient to support taxes based on declared values

- During assessment acceptance, where declared values have been reviewed upwards and has cause an increase in the tax amount, unless the premises bond is valid and sufficient to support the taxes suspended, acceptance will fail

- During removal of goods by means of conveyance either from port to the warehouse or from the warehouse for re-export, removal bond must be valid and sufficient to support the suspended tax amount

c. Validation procedure (to be)

- All the validation conditions of (b) above; and in addition

- Declared and assessed HS Codes must be part of registered HS Codes

- Based on the goods category, the system will count the number of days from the date of gate-in confirmed to determine the duration of stay

- Where goods have overstayed in the bonded warehouse, the system will disallow the validation of a BOE (IM7) targeting the bonded warehouse.

- The option to request for extension of the due date, but subject to approval. The due date extension is dependent on the category of the warehoused goods.

- Where the request for extension of due date is rejected, the system will only allow forex-warehousing, but will deny any new warehousing (IM7) BOE, until the overstayed goods are disposed of through ex-warehousing, transfer to state warehouse or the due date has been extended

(6) Observation:

When point (5)(c) is activated, any outstanding stock beyond the allowable period will prevent the admission of any warehouse goods until appropriate action is taken.

There is therefore the need for Resident Officers to work closely with their respective warehouse operators to ensure that the there are no disruptions when.

(7) The effective date will be communicated in due course. This is to provide sufficient room for review and corrective actions.

Procedure for Request for Due Date Extension:

Clearance  > Bonded Warehouse Management >  Overstayed Goods  > Due date Extension Request

Thank you

Implementation of upward adjustment to the GHS Disinfection Fee (Tax Code 63)

Ministry of Health Service following stakeholder consultation, wishes to inform the trading community of the upward adjustment to their GHS Disinfection Fee as follows:

(1) New Rates:

 - Up to 20 ft container - from US$15.00 toUS$20.00

 - More than 20 ft container (i.e., 40ft) - from US$25.00 to US$30.00

(2) Where Tax Code 63has already been paid for a BOE, it will not be affected by the new rates even when it undergoes post entry processing, unless the change relates to size and count of containers.

(3) All other rates remain unchanged

(4) Effective Date Monday, 25th Jul 2022

Kindly take note 

DEPLOYMENTOF ADDITIONAL FREEZONE APPLICATION FORMS AND ANNUAL FEES

Please be informed that new free zone application forms have been developed and deployed in ICUMS, which will take effect 1st July, 2022.

The annual fees for free zone companies would also be collected on the ICUMS platform. However, those who have already paid their license fees for the year would need to activate their company registration in ICUMS with details of the receipt issued.

The following applications will now be available online.

The Ghana Free Zones Authority wishes to inform affected stakeholders that the manual form 9 forms for the above applications will no longer be accepted for processing effective1st July 2022.

The registration for the payment of the annual fees (Opt in) can be done on the external platform.

Single Window  > Registration  >  Opt In/Out Request  > Create Opt In/Out.

However, companies who have already paid their license fee for the year can submit their receipt to the Ghana Free A one Authority for activation of their company codes.