Towards tackling the numerous challenges in import\/export trade and stall revenue loss by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), an indigenous firm, International Trade Advisory Limited (ITASL), has flagged off its services at the nation\u2019s ports.
\nAccording to the company, the initiative\u00a0 is intended to provide world class advisory services for importers, exporters, manufacturers and multinationals on Customs processes and procedures with a view to reducing delays in cargo clearance at the ports.
\nSpeaking at a press briefing to announce the initiative in Lagos recently, the Principal Consultant and Chief Executive Officer of the company, Okey Ibeke, said importers often incur avoidable expenses due to inadequate knowledge on trade laws, and sometimes ignorant of the losses transferred to consumers through high prices of goods at the end of the day.
\nConsequently, he said, \u201cone of the primary goals of the firm is to provide assistance in interpretation of laws\/regulations, product descriptions, harmonized tariff codes, valuation, rules of origin, and post clearance audit for the resolution of all import\/export compliance and regulatory issues\u201d.
\nNoting that compliance level is still very low at the nation\u2019s ports, Ibeke urged importers to avoid trade malpractices such as under declaration, under valuation, wrong classification and other related infractions, which, he said, are responsible for delay in cargo clearance at the ports.
\n\u201cSometimes some importers willfully refuse to comply with the laid down rules and regulations while others do it out of ignorance. So, what we do is to advise multinationals and corporate organizations on Customs processes and procedures.
\n\u201cWe advise them on how to classify the goods they are importing so that when the goods land, they won\u2019t have problems with the Customs.
\n\u201cWhen they have issues, the Customs will detain their goods pending the resolution of the matter and they will incur demurrages resulting in additional cost, for which the consumers bear the brunt. So, what we do is to provide advisory services.
\n\u201cWe develop procedures, training modules and assessment programs to identify compliance defects, develop solutions and coordinate improvement implementation.
\n\u201cWe provide professional resources and broad skill sets for clients such as technical specialists, licensed customs brokers, logistics experts, project managers, accountants, lawyers, freight forwarders, and auditors.
\n\u201cWe employ appropriate procedures to determine the proper harmonized tariff classification on imports or exports, control classification on exports and provide a complete audit trail to support our client\u2019s classification claim. In addition, our experts can research rulings or assist in obtaining a ruling.
\n\u201cCustoms authorities are increasing their focus on compliance verification audits, and valuation is a key area they usually look at. Given the various methodologies, determining the value for duty of goods can be incredibly complex. Commissions, assists, royalties or related party transactions need to be considered, and getting it wrong can result in repayment of higher duties and financial penalties.
\n\u201cInternational Trade Advisory Services Limited, therefore, helps a client to ensure the correct valuation method, the right pricing relationship with related and non-related vendors, and correct payment of duties,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Towards tackling the numerous challenges in import\/export trade and stall revenue loss by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), an indigenous firm, International Trade Advisory Limited (ITASL), has flagged off its services at the nation\u2019s ports. According to the company, the initiative\u00a0 is intended to provide world class advisory services for importers, exporters, manufacturers and multinationals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maritime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298377"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298377\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":298396,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298377\/revisions\/298396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}