Customs, Chamber of Commerce evaluate partnership implementation.

The session was chaired by the Head of the Division in charge of Facilitation, Dr Konneh Gasper Neba, who sat in for the Director General of Customs, Fongod Edwin Nuvaga.

Worth noting recalling is the fact that on June 18, 2021, the Customs DG signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the President of CCIMC, Christophe Ekeng, relating to the control of certificates of origin of local products. 

In this regard, the members of the joint committee met to examine the level of implementation of the recommendations made during their first-ever session. 

This included the examination of the requirement for a certificate of origin in foreign trade; and the evaluation of the level of dematerialization of the certificate of origin.

Through the MoU, CCIMA committed to inform Customs staff, where necessary, of the procedures and documents relating to the Certificate of Origin; Set up mechanisms for the rapid and efficient issue of Certificates of Origin to operators holding products subject to this requirement; as well as collaborate with the Customs administration in setting up any physical or digital infrastructure enabling the easy implementation of partnership.

On her part, the Customs Department had undertaken to ensure the existence of the certificate of origin in the files required in the export declaration file; integrate into its information system fields enabling reference to be made to the certificate of origin issued by the CCIMA; and provide users with the information needed to obtain the said document and the various places where it is issued.

It is worth noting that the Customs-CCIMC partnership drew inspiration from articles 18 and 19 of Law No. 2016/004 of April 18, 2016, governing foreign trade in Cameroon, relating to the control of imports and exports. 

Article 19 states that administrations and institutions authorized to exercise technical controls at the borders with regard to imports, exports and transit of goods must cooperate and coordinate their actions.

With the partnership, the two parties have engaged to better promote the Made in Cameroon products and to promote products intended for export.