VIN Valuation Implementation : Anxiety on What Happens After Grace Period
CUSTOMS AGENTS PROTEST
By Francis Ugwoke
A palpable anxiety is now the order of the day among freight forwarders and personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on what would happen after the grace period given to the former to clear their goods after two weeks strike to protest against the controversial Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy.
Freight forwarders had complained that the new VIN policy makes them to pay about 300 percent duty on vehicles as against what they used to pay.
Based on the protest, the Customs had promised to review the policy and giving the importers and their agents one month grace period to clear backlog of goods affected by the strike.
With the grace period, many freight forwarders and their importers had taken it for granted that the VIN policy would be dropped or a serious adjustment made in respect of duties to be paid on vehicles.
But this optimism appeared to have been dashed when the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hammed Ali, made it clear recently that the Service will not stop the implementation of the new VIN after the one month suspension.
Ali had said “It is now one valuation for the same type of vehicle anywhere. We are moving forward; we can’t be retrogressive. When the freight forwarders came up with their issue of not liking the platform I was surprised because these were the same people that put us on the edge. So, I think it has come to stay and we will make sure it succeeds. Anytime I come to the port, there has been this issue of uniformity for values. They have complained of multiple valuations when they go to Apapa port, Tin Can and PTML where they get different values”.
Reacting to the statement by Ali, the Deputy President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayode Farinto said freight forwarders would wait and see what happens and know the next step to take.
Farinto said freight forwarders would resist it if the Customs fails to adjust after the one month grace period.
He said this was because the new VIN valuation policy was counter to international standards.
He said all the associations of freight forwarders would take a decision on what line of action in protest against the policy.
A prominent customs agent who does not want to be quoted said that the ports would be shut again if the Customs insists on no adjustment as threatened by the CG.
“These people are looking for money for election and we have decided that they will not get that money from importers by over-taxing them.”, he said,.
He disclosed that right now, the duty of a 2007 Toyota corolla car is about N2million outside a settlement of close to N800,000.00.
He added that an importer would be paying close to double if the new VIN valuation policy is not adjusted.
A palpable anxiety is now the order of the day among freight forwarders and personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on what would happen after the grace period given to the former to clear their goods after two weeks strike to protest against the controversial Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) valuation policy.
Freight forwarders had complained that the new VIN policy makes them to pay about 300 percent duty on vehicles as against what they used to pay.
Based on the protest, the Customs had promised to review the policy and giving the importers and their agents one month grace period to clear backlog of goods affected by the strike.
With the grace period, many freight forwarders and their importers had taken it for granted that the VIN policy would be dropped or a serious adjustment made in respect of duties to be paid on vehicles.
But this optimism appeared to have been dashed when the Comptroller-General of Customs, Hammed Ali, made it clear recently that the Service will not stop the implementation of the new VIN after the one month suspension.
Ali had said “It is now one valuation for the same type of vehicle anywhere. We are moving forward; we can’t be retrogressive. When the freight forwarders came up with their issue of not liking the platform I was surprised because these were the same people that put us on the edge. So, I think it has come to stay and we will make sure it succeeds. Anytime I come to the port, there has been this issue of uniformity for values. They have complained of multiple valuations when they go to Apapa port, Tin Can and PTML where they get different values”.
Reacting to the statement by Ali, the Deputy President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr Kayode Farinto said freight forwarders would wait and see what happens and know the next step to take.
Farinto said freight forwarders would resist it if the Customs fails to adjust after the one month grace period.
He said this was because the new VIN valuation policy was counter to international standards.
He said all the associations of freight forwarders would take a decision on what line of action in protest against the policy.
A prominent customs agent who does not want to be quoted said that the ports would be shut again if the Customs insists on no adjustment as threatened by the CG.
“These people are looking for money for election and we have decided that they will not get that money from importers by over-taxing them.”, he said,.
He disclosed that right now, the duty of a 2007 Toyota corolla car is about N2million outside a settlement of close to N800,000.00.
He added that an importer would be paying close to double if the new VIN valuation policy is not adjusted.
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