At the beginning of the year, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) has decided to abolish the use of paper in customs transactions. As a result, freight traffic is facilitated.
The formalities at the customs are an essential link in the chain of transport of goods between the sender and recipient. In early 2012, viewed as carrying members of the Professional Association of Freight Forwarding (APT) are thrilled.
The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA), an organization that brings together all the agencies to collect taxes and duties of the state, just remove the paper from all customs transactions in the import and export .
Thus the use of paper has been banished from all the paperwork relating to customs clearance or import from an export project. The declaration at the customs, which so far had to be done through a physical filing of documents at customs can now be done electronically. No need to file the documents which must accompany any application filing to Customs. The digital image version of these documents is sufficient.
Amil Emamdin, president of the Association, at a press conference this Thursday, January 19, 2012 at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Mauritius, certainly applauded the initiative of the MRA, but with a twinge in heart. And for good reason. "Since 2002, the Association advocates for the elimination of paper at the customs paperwork. The budget speech of the time reported. But unfortunately, nothing was done. "
This has other implications. One of them relates to the total elimination of potential risks of corruption offenses which could easily be practiced. The factor that favored the potential corruption cases, the contacts between customs officers and clerks able to play to perfection the role of corruptor and / or corrupted as appropriate. Another effect is related to a reduction in the cost of operations. For the purposes of this measure will significantly reduce certain costs including transportation or related to the use of Customs Clerks.