Travelers arriving in the country with multiple mobile phones, gadgets and other goods risk paying customs duties if the items are deemed to be in commercial quantities, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has said.
He said passengers who accepted such items from people abroad and brought them into the country could have the items treated as commercial quantities and subjected to applicable customs requirements.
Mr Kanor, therefore, advised travellers not to accept large quantities of goods, particularly expensive electronic devices on behalf of other people without first understanding the applicable Customs requirements.
The Commissioner of Customs, Aaron Kanor, announced this on Tuesday, during a working visit to the Accra International Airport (AIA) to demonstrate processes for arriving passengers and their luggages.
Mr Kanor was accompanied by the Assistant Commissioner and Sector Commander of the AIA, Theodore Kafui Ahiable, other Customs officials, including the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Communication and Public Affairs, Florence Asante.
Customs Act
Under the Customs Act, 2015 (Act 891), personal items brought into Ghana by travellers are subject to passenger baggage concessions. Items that fall outside the applicable concessions, or goods which Customs determines are imported for commercial purposes rather than genuine personal effects, may be subject to Customs duties and other applicable requirements.
Channels
Mr Kanor also rejected claims that the AIA had no red and green Customs channels, describing such assertions as misinformation.
“When you have nothing to declare, please go through the green channel. If you have something to declare, please come through the red channel,” he said.
The Commissioner further explained that Customs did not rely solely on passengers’ declarations to determine whether luggages required further examination.
Mr Kanor said that the mandate of Customs went beyond revenue collection to include public safety, national security and protection of the country.
“We are not here for only revenue purposes. We are also here for public safety, national security and protection of our country,” he said.
He warned that Customs remained vigilant against attempts to smuggle prohibited items, including weapons, through passenger luggage.
Automation
Mr Kanor also said that the GRA was advancing its automation programme and, therefore, planned to deploy the Advanced Passenger Information (API) and Passenger Name Record (PNR) systems.
The systems, he said, would provide Customs with relevant passenger information before travellers arrived, enabling officers to improve passenger profiling, risk assessment and the efficiency of border checks.
The Commissioner said the initiative was consistent with international Customs practices and the Revised Kyoto Convention, which provided standards for modern Customs procedures.
Arrival procedure
The Chief Revenue Officer in charge of Preventive Operations at the airport, Ms Grace Assumin, who took the media through the arrival procedures at Terminal Three, explained that after immigration clearance, passengers’ luggage passed through the Customs scanning system.
She said officers assessed the scan results to determine whether a bag required further examination before passengers were allowed to proceed.
Ms Assumin explained that the scanning and risk-assessment processes formed part of Customs’ efforts to facilitate legitimate travel while identifying consignments that required further checks.
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