Fifty officers drawn from the Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), the Ghana Link Network Services Limited, the African Link Network Services of Sierra Leone, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the shipping sector are undergoing training on harmonised system of classification.
The five-day programme is being organised by the Ghana Link Network Services Limited in fulfillment of its contractual relationship with the government on capacity building for stakeholders in the destination inspection sector.
The Managing Director of Ghana Link Network Services Limited, Nana Asamoah Boadu, announced that his company had developed, implemented and kept up-to-date with a Computerised Risk Management System that allowed attention to be focused on high risk shipments while allowing for fast clearance for honest importers.
He said Ghana Link was able to produce final classification and valuation reports for importers within two days depending on how well they complied with government directives.
Nana Boadu announced that the destination inspection companies operating in Ghana had formed a joint consultative committee through which regular meetings were held with the view to putting a stop to revenue leakages and multiple presentations of same documents.
He expressed the hope that the training programme would bring to the fore, some of the avoidable mistakes associated with classification.
Representing the Commissioner General of the GRA, Mr Charles Sabblah observed that the challenges facing classification of imports required a constant review.
Mr Sabblah, who is an Assistant Commissioner of Customs (Preventive), stressed the need for future training programmes to include the participation of media personnel.
That, he said, would enable the media to understand the elements and issues that were considered when classifying imports.
He charged those responsible for classification to be more professional instead of classifying goods with the aim of getting higher tariffs.