III.1. Gikondo service unit (long room) and cargo
management unit
In the two units, the activities are related to the imports
and they have a relationship with the activities of the exports, transit and
out station and this resemblance corresponds to clearing. Here, one explained
me the process of clearing of the imports (or exports) as of their entry in
customs to their exit from the warehouses. The difference between the imports
and exports in this process is that exports are exonerated from the rights and
taxes. After the explanations, I accompanied the inspectors in physical
control/verification (I have seen the process of vehicles verification, plastic
materials, etc), I was shown how the documentary verification is made, the
delivery of a release which allows the importer to carry his goods from the
warehouse once the verification agrees with what was declared or quarry if it
does not agree.
III.2. Archive Unit
The archive being a space of classification of the files; in
the file of Customs services department the files of the tradesmen are
classified after the latter finished the clearing of their goods. These files
are classified by chronological and numerical order.
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The files classified in the file are of great importance
because they are used as reference in the event of litigation either for
Customs services departments (in the case of audit for example), for the
clearing agents, the exporter/importer, the verificator, etc.
During one week that in this service, I have participated in
the classification of the files, and I classified more than 300 files.
III.3. Formality of Clearing
III.3.1 Orientation of the goods
On arrival of the imports at the border, the agent of RRA
draws up a document of T1 and the clearing agent establish and sign the DDCOM
that they transmit to the agent of customs, which by after, pack the goods by a
seal and record the operation.
When the transporter vehicle (of imports, exports or transit)
arrive at the parking of Gikondo, the owner presents the truck accompanied by a
customs declaration COMESA to the agent of MAGERWA or SDV (SCAC, DELMAS and
VIELJEUX) and at the principal verification agent on the parking. At the
reception of the DDCOM, the principal agent of verification specifies the
orientation of the goods waiting for clearing.
There are four orientations according to modes' of unloading:
Unloading out of warehouse;
Unloading and Recharging (D/R);
Unloading in Residence (DAD);
Unloading On Truck (DSC).
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Unloading in warehouse
It relates to the goods which must pass in warehouses before
they are cleared. During unloading, the goods are pointed, i.e. counted and
placed well in the warehouses in front of the agents of the customs jointly
with those of MAGERWA or SDV, in front of the clearing agent or the owner of
the goods. Here, the MAGERWA or SDV is responsible for the good conservation of
these goods until their removal.
After, an arrival note is made and delivered
to the clearing agent or to importer to confirm the arrival of the goods to
him.
Thus, the clearing agent will draw up a declaration starting
from the data being on the arrival note.
Unloading on truck
This mode of unloading is granted for the goods homogeneous
and easy to count and for the honest importers.
The goods are cleared directly on truck without waiting the
pointing and unloading process with the warehouse. It is a facility granted to
the goods whose destination is urgent. In this case, the goods remain in the
truck while waiting for the physical checking/verification and clearing, the
truck remaining at the parking.
Unloading in residence
This unloading is granted for emergency circumstances, goods
whose constitution can harm the warehouses (for example chemicals), or these
which can be damaged during recharging.
The authorization of DAD is granted by the commissar of the
Customs. The operations of DAD are supervised by a verification agent of
Customs who draws up an ad hoc report/ratio.
A provisional declaration is done and a guarantee equivalent
to the rights and taxes is deposited at the bank.
The regularization of the situation must be done in fifteen days
starting from the date of DAD.
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Unloading and Recharging (D/R)
This unloading relates to the goods whose enumeration and
checking are easy to be made before being reloaded in the truck.
In all the cases, the agent of RRA authorizes the entry of the
goods (if it is the case) and records this operation, after the agent of
MAGERWA records the declaration and weighs the truck to see the gross weight in
order to determine the net weight. The documents accompanying the goods are
lodged with the principal verificator (cargo controller) who records them after
having verified if the truck is sealed and if the number of the seal
corresponds to that which is registered on the DDCOM and finally he/she
determines the mode of the goods according to their nature. The goods are
directed according to their nature, and must be verified according to the
channel in which they belong.
These channels are:
? Red Channel: the regime under which the verification must be
100% (physical and documentary);
? Yellow Channel: the regime under which verification is only
documentary for the honest tradesmen having the TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE
according to which the customs officer relies on him and must release the goods
in order to do the post-audit to that after unloading at residence.
? Blue Channel: channel under which the customs officer
accepts all what was declared.
? Green Channel: This channel is reserved for embassies and
consulates, theirs imports are exonerated.
The goods must be directed in the warehouses of MAGERWA or SDV
for the verification (physical and/documentary) which is done by the customs
officer for taxation and for the Rwanda bureau of Standard charged in charge
with the checking of the quality and the state of the goods. Each unit works
independently from the other.
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The warehousing is done according to the regime of the goods.
This is why a part from the private warehouses the MAGERWA (Gikondo) has
various deposits which are:
· the agricultural warehouse (EA); Customs warehouse A
(EDA);
· the Customs warehouse B (EDB);
· the Customs warehouse C (EDC);
· parking I, II and III
As it has been explained before, unloading is done in the
presence of the pointer, agent of the MAGERWA, who checks that the transported
quantity corresponds to that which is registered on the DDCOM, if it is not
thus the pointer notes what it saw, sign and the owner of goods signs too. It
is this document (arrival note) which is the reference on amount of the rights
and taxes.
For the fictitious warehouses which are the stores,
warehouses, or deposits of the private companies approved by the customs to
facilitate their trade, before discharging the goods, the holder of the
warehouse must inform an agent of customs who has the authority to loosen the
locks and seals of the conveying truck and to sign on the declaration if it is
in conformity with reality.
After the physical verification is made by the pointer
assisted by the tradesman or a verification agent who represents it and with
the driver, the pointer draws up a document called the
manifest.
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