Wednesday Nov 13, 2024
Wednesday Nov 13, 2024
Thursday, 26 November 2020 02:52 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Charumini de Silva
Sri Lanka Customs yesterday said that 10,500 entities and individuals have completed the e-registration process, with the registration of a further 1,000 suspended with immediate effect.
The e-registration was initiated to streamline and secure the existing freighter registration at Sri Lanka Customs. The original deadline of 31 October was further extended till 14 November considering the resurgence of COVID-19 and the continuous requests made by stakeholders.
“We are pleased with the enthusiasm shown by all stakeholders. A total of 10,500 entities and individuals have registered with us, while less than 1,000 had not registered. Those who failed to comply with the extended deadline automatically became defunct,” Sri Lanka Customs Risk Management Unit Deputy Director Sudath Silva told the Daily FT.
He said those required to activate the services will have to re-register with Sri Lanka Customs via http://customs.gov.lk/registrations/login.
The new mechanism aims to eliminate the misuse of Customs registrations, eliminate the ability to create mushroom companies, facilitate legitimate trade, create productive Customs databases and introduce paperless, streamlined registration mechanisms.
All the existing and new importers and exporters, shipping agents and sub-agents, clearing agencies and wharf clerks, Board of Investment (BOI) companies, unaccompanied passenger baggage (UPB) warehouse operators, and courier services were called to register online with Sri Lanka Customs before 14 November.
Silva also said that traders who had not imported or exported for more than a year have already been deactivated.
When asked why 1,000 entities or individuals failed to complete the e-registration, he said that it could be due to the difficulties in gathering all required documents in the partial lockdown or that it could be the fraction of bogus firms that Sri Lanka Customs wanted out of the system.
Silva said a team comprising 20 officials have been assigned to evaluate all 10,500 submissions case by case to ensure authentication. “The e-registration process required a list of documents to be submitted online and we noticed that many companies and individuals had failed to provide compulsory documents. In that context, we commenced a case by case vetting process, and to expedite the process we have requested the Director General for additional officers for the task.”
In most of the submissions Gramaseva Certification was missing and to resubmit it Sri Lanka Customs have extended the submission deadline by an additional month. Further, for other missing document submission a seven day grace period has been granted.
Silva said through the e-registration initiated by the Risk Management Unit of Sri Lanka, Customs expects to minimise the risk of misusing the details of registered companies.
