The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Customs brokers remain sceptical that requiring them to fully integrate with the electronic import clearance system will be “the best thing since sliced bread” with many still viewing the move as “totally unnecessary”.

Antoine Brooks, Island Traders Shop & Ship’s managing director, told Tribune Business that only when the free integration pledged by Customs comptroller, Ralph Munroe, materialises will he become “excited” over the transition.

“We are for anything that makes the system better and improves it, and I’m happy to go along with it. It’s just that the cost of the options given to us by the Department of Customs was a major issue,” he added.

“Anything that improves the system we definitely would like, but you don’t want to spend costs unnecessarily when we’re barely just trying to get over the pandemic and facing all of this stuff, and just trying to survive as a business person.”

Prices charged to acquire or install the GAACS or ISL’s Single Window Management System (SWIM) start at $600 for one user, with Customs brokers having to pay either monthly or annual user fees to the software provider for its continued use.

Michelle Bethel-Gibson, owner/operator of MJI Transport, said: “I’m going to speak to ISL; the one I am familiar with. To set up a user it’s $1,000, and it’s $450 a month. That’s a whole person. If you add up everything I can add a couple of people to my business.

“No one can really adequately explain the purpose of the new integration when they spent over $100m to put the ESW (Customs’ Electronic Single Window) in place, which was supposed to be the end-all and be-all as it relates to the Customs department being seamless, to increase revenue and to limit delays at the port. It amazes me that there are still delays at the port, and now they are saying that revenue is down. Well they need to get manpower to facilitate that.”

The brokers were responding after Mr Munroe last week sought to reassure concerned brokers that they will ultimately find integration with Customs’ electronic goods clearance system is “better than sliced bread” due to the cost savings and efficiency gains that result.

He described as “much ado about nothing” concerns held by some brokers over the mandate for them to connect with the Electronic Single Window (ESW), known as Click2Clear, via digital - as opposed to user - interface. He also asserted that broker or importer had been “blocked” from Customs’ system even though some are still scrambling to acquire, install and learn the third-party software that will facilitate the electronic data interface (EDI) mandated from January 3.

Mr Munroe said: “We want you to interface with us electronically. It’s more efficient and cheaper at the end of the day. It eliminates mistakes, and we can have data readily available at all times” for both the likes of the Ministry of Finance and international bodies.

Further justifying Customs, and the Ministry of Finance’s, digital push, the Comptroller continued: “Time is money. In the system that is being proposed, and it has not been perfected yet, it will save everyone time, and when you save time you save everybody money.

“The Government of the Bahamas has made a commitment, where persons are financially challenged, they can access it for free. The process hasn’t been completed and no one has been blocked from anything. January was just another day at the office for us.

“We are pushing people to get into this 21st century, and let’s do things the way the rest of the world is doing it. While persons may be stubborn, and people seem to be reluctant to change, and they are afraid of change, I am convinced that at the end of the day they are going to find this is the best thing since sliced bread.”

But another broker, speaking under condition of anonymity, said: “Mr Munroe won’t be using the system, so I don’t know how he knows how that bread is going to taste like? The thing is the integration software vendors they are promoting don’t address everyone’s needs, because some of the larger companies use both ISL and GAACS and still have problems transferring data into the ESW.”

Customs brokers have previously complained about both the cost and inconvenience of acquiring the third-party software that will enable them to complete the EDI interface with Click2Clear. The Ministry of Finance, though, has denied it is mandating, or forcing, brokers to use a particular vendor or product, such as ISL or GAACS.

However, some brokers are arguing that limited time, as well as the associated complexity, means they have little choice but to use one of the ministry’s recommendations.

Explaining the rationale for the changes, the Ministry of Finance said last week: “The Click2Clear system is designed to facilitate electronic data interchange or EDI. EDI or the sending of an electronic file for processing dramatically lowers the cost of operation for both the broker and Customs. As of June 2022, less than 10 percent of the transactions submitted to Click2Clear were by EDI.

“Instead, they were submitted by way of the user interface (UI). A UI entry is a time consuming and error prone way of submitting entries. Independent estimates have placed the potential annual revenue loss from errors in submitting entries by UI at more than $50m.

“The most recent estimate was provided by a consultant firm engaged by the previous administration, so the need to improve Customs processes to eliminate leakage is non-political and has bipartisan support. The Government must act to recover this lost revenue, and recovering this revenue loss by administrative means, in a high inflation environment, is more practical than simply just increasing import duty rates.”