In a bid to streamline export processes and enhance trade facilitation in the Country, the Nigeria Customs Service (NC) has partnered the Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) of the European Union (EU) for efficient export monitoring and documentation.
Speaking at a meeting held at the Corporate Headquarters of the Service on Tuesday, February 27, 2024, the Comptroller General of Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed this adding that that the Service as the competent authority for rules of origin, will deploy all necessary measures to facilitate the Partnership process.
Having acknowledged the initiative as a welcome idea that pave ways for economic union, that is bringing the two economic blocs together, Adewale said the initiative of the Registered Exporters is a welcome development.
He thus requested for a framework between Nigeria Customs and DG TAXUD that can be used to verify and validate export commodities. He stated that the service is interested in a digital platform that will enhance the validation of documents.
According to the Comptroller General, “As part of our outreach program, we are also working with other agencies of the Nigerian government inorder to maximize these opportunities. In the past, we’ve had goods from Nigeria returned because of it’s quality, storage, and all of that”.
“We’ve moved to establish a ‘one-stop-shop’ export seat for export documentation which will help reduce time taken for Nigerian exporters to get their goods out of our port. Earlier this month, we launched the Time Release Studies, which we targeted towards goods imported and how much it takes for businessmen to clear their goods in the port”. “We are also going to launch a similar exercise to have a scientific measure of how long and how much it costs our businessmen to export their products. The most important part is to identify if there are bureaucratic modules, procedures, or laws that are creating delays so that people can get their things off our port with speed”.
The CGC said, “My intention is to have a system that is better, faster, and easier for us to confirm your request within a very short period. I want us to talk about exportation just as we all talk about importation”.
Also speaking, Gary Wilkinson, who works in the Rules of Origin in the Directorate-General Taxation and Customs Union (DG TAXUD) European Union, revealed that the tariff discount for exported products is 4 percent, and for any Nigerian products exported, there is a discount.
Gary emphasized that as part of the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) scheme, the Union occasionally travel to developing countries to ensure that products sent to the European Union are indeed of Nigerian origin.
He stated that specific rules have been put in place to ascertain the origin of products under the GSP scheme, maintaining that all trade agreements are based on cooperation between the two Customs departments.
