CAMEROON Peer Review Country Report

Workshop on the impact of single windows on the passage of goods across ports and on the trade facilitation in general Douala, Cameroun, 08-11 September 2014.

Peer Review Week Date: 11th to 14th August 2014: Douala, Cameroon Team: Ms. Birgit Viohl, project consultant, Mr. Tanjona Rabemiandrisoa (Madagascar Single Window), and Mr. Abdoullahi Faouzi (Cameroon Single Window, e-GUCE) Mission: 17 interactive sessions Scope: e-GUCE excluding Customs clearance procedures (as carried out by ASYCUDA++)

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Content 1. Context Establishment, Positioning and Challenges, e.g. national institutional and legal framework, and business model 2. Coverage, e.g. international trade processes, and functions/services provided by SW

3. System Architecture 4. Performance (Usage Statistics and Impacts)

5. SWOT Feedback & Recommandations

1. Context 1.1. Type of SW

– Single Window for Clearance Formalities, excluding Customs clearance – Supports typical Trader–Government interaction for government approvals and authorizations prior to an importation or exportation – Most services are only applicable in Douala port since it is the major port of the country. – Not fully or end-to-other-end paperless environment yet – In operation since 2007 and for procedures of importation of used cars, since then more coverages are expended.

Single Window Model End-User

Public User

eGUCE

Banks

PAD

Importers Exporters

Min of Commerce

Customs Clearing Agents SGS

Shipping Lines National Shipping Council Treasury Insurance Companies

Customs

ASYCUDA++

1. Context 1.2. National policy direction & mandate

GUCE was established in 2000 as an Economic Interest Group Government trade facilitation objectives – Reduction of processing time for customs clearance – Reduction of cash circulation – Limitation of data duplication – Fostering stakeholder collaboration through exchange of information and physical concentration.

1. Context 1.3. Legal framework Obligatory use of the SW for e-Manifest, e-Payment for Customs Duties and Tax, e-DI, e-CIVIO, and e-Insurance procedures

Legal changes (Decree 22nd Feb 2014) to allow e-procedures and paperless processing through e-GUCE Single Window for foreign trade

1. Context 1.4. Business Model PPP – Economic interest group  Non-profit making model  Members are from private and public sector Funding  Deployment: Funding from donors (Initial and paperless project)  Operations: Government (2007-2009) and flat user fee (fixed amount) Governance  Corporate governance: all members of EIG  Project governance structure: all relevant stakeholders at highest political level

1. Partners OGAs: Total: 6, in SW 1, = 15% Customs Commercial Banks: 100%

Insurance Companies: 100% Destination Inspection Company: Total 1 = 100%

Port Authority: Port Autonome de Douala Customs Brokers/Customs Clearing Agents: 70%

Shipping Lines: 100%

2. Coverage 2.1 Trade Procedures / Regulatory services

APPROVALS

DECLARE-RELEASE

PRE-ARRIVAL INFO

RECEPTION of GOODS

REMOVAL

Supply Chain Processes/Trade Procedures covered by Cameroon SW • • • • •

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Request for CoO (in pilot) BESC (data integration) Importer registration and DI (Min of Commerce) National Harmonized Insurance Certificate (Insurance Companies)

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Customs Declaration data sharing (from Asycuda++ to e-GUCE) with PAD, Banks and Treasury Collection of Customs Duties and Taxes by Banks and Treasury (Semi-electronic payment) Traders Requesting for the bill of PAD’s Port Charge (pilot)

APPROVALS

DECLARE-RELEASE

PRE-ARRIVAL INFO

RECEPTION of GOODS

Submission of Cargo Manifest (by shipping line to Customs through eGUCE, and then sharing with PAD and DIT) Publication of Vessel arrival notice (by PAD to e-GUCE)

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Container movement (available through eGUCE from DIT – Container Terminal Operators) CIVIO (Inspection on arrival)

DIT (Container Terminal Operator) PAD (Port Authority of Douala) Min Com (Ministry of Commerce)

2. Coverage Regulatory services Currently 5 procedures:  Request of a Certificate of Inspection for used cars at importation  Request of Import Declaration for used cars at importation  Submission of Manifest to Customs  Registration of importers and exporters (Min of Commerce)  Requesting National Harmonized Insurance Certificate In Pilot Certificate of Origin (by Chamber of Commerce) Developed but not used Manifest update

2. Coverage Transport services  Prévision des escales (Shipping arrival notification)  Tracking des containeurs (Container tracking) In Pilot  Port Authority Invoicing Developed but not yet used  Certificate d’empotage (Potting Certificate issued by Customs & OGA)  Electronic Summary Declaration (EU) formalities (sending by shipping lines)

2. Coverage 2.2. SW processes Electronic government approval and document collection process; Notification of payment of customs duties and taxes; Exchange of document and data between and with public users.

2. Coverage 2.3. SW services  Data entry, data formatting, and control and submission of data and information;  Uploading of data from external media: cargo manifest (xml format), commercial invoice (an excel sheet functionality);  Self-printing of documents;  Tracking and tracing of processing;  “Goods Tracking information” service;  Tax and Duty Calculation Simulator;

 Data export to external media;  Network services.

2. Coverage 2.4. Paperless and Paper-based environment  Application forms can be submitted electronically with electronic documents attachment (paperless), and issuing is done electronically also, but the final document is printed to be presented to next manual stages, e.g. - Customs still requests paper CIVIO (printing out from SGS) - Insurance policies issued electronically, but most regulatory agencies still ask for print-out paper insurances - After paying duty at the bank (payment status electronically sent to Treasury & Customs, but Customs/Stevedore/DIT/…still request print-out receipt.

 e-Signature is in the pilot stage (now only work with Internet Explorer).

3. System Architecture 3.1. Single Window system Seamless processing: The Single window operations rely on one system

eGUCE

 Web applications  EDI Integration with partners

 Orchestration Engine  Datacenter (but no second DRC yet) Legacy platform for Insurance certificate (will be phased out soon). DRC – Disaster recovery Center

3. System Architecture 3.2. Integration of Partners Interface with partners’ system eGUCE exchanges data (records, attached documents, or approval status) with the following entities:

 Customs (e-Manifest, e-Declaration, Vessel Pre-arrival Notification)  PAD (e-Manifest, e-Declaration, Vessl Pre-arrival Notification, )  SGS (e-CIVIO)  National Shipper Council (BESC – cargo tracking slip)  DIT (Container Movement information)

3. System Architecture Integration of clients Processing in eGUCE  Support for data entry  Manifest data can be uploaded from external sources in different formats  Documents can be attached in scanned format, e.g. origin invoice, B/L, etc

4. Performance Impacts of ASYCUDA++ and e-GUCE For the clearance of import of used cars: Overall time has been reduced from 7 days to less than 48 hours (if all conditions are ok). (at TMFD park) Time for process steps (for general cases) – Submission of Declaration till the clearance: reducing from 6 days and more, now less than 3 hours; – Issuance of Customs duties and taxes Payment Receipt: reducing from 3 days (before e-GUCE) to 2 hours and less; – Issuance of Import Declaration (by Ministry of Commerce) reducing from 8 hours to 15 min; – Capturing of Import manifest (300 pages) reducing from 7 days to less than a 1 min.

4. Performance Impact of eGUCE on processing number of days (average of the month of July)

4. Performance Other qualitative impacts – Securing documents, e.g. reducing the no. of faked papers – Less paper and incidents of personal intervention – Better statistics and traceability of processing – Improved revenue transparency

5. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths

Weaknesses

- Single integrated platform, e.g. web-based or EDI - Currently limited number of procedures covered or/used (36 procedures identified but - Competent team in technology 11 fully used (3 still piloting)) - Clear vision for paperless project - Difficult linkage with Customs Processes (preliminary studies and training for GUCE staff and systems due to technical challenges guide the project have beed conducted.) - Lack of change leadership -Continuous time and performance for paper culture monitoring and management -Supportive partners for process improvements and paperless re-engineering (SGS and PAD)

Opportunities - New leadership: Project committee units all actors at the highest political level (chaired by Secretary General of Prime Minister Ofiice) - Accelerating the remaining procedures - Adapting new end-to-the-other-end paperless transaction

Threats - Paper culture (people resisting change) - Technological limits for further integration to other systems e.g. ASYCUDA++ - Marketing influence of other SW solution providers

Thank You

Workshop on the impact of single windows on the passage of goods across ports and on the trade facilitation in general Douala, Cameroun, 08-11 September 2014.