PICA Chairman Pleased with Imminent Paperless Custumes Operation

Chairman of PICA Joe Issa, who has often seen reforms taking place in the public sector, including his own Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, as enhancing Jamaica’s readiness to increase travel and trade, has yet another occasion to do so; this time, as he compliments the Senate for approving measures for its sister agency and partner is securing the country’s borders, to enhance trading with other nations.

“I think it’s the kind of reform the IMF was referring to in part in its latest report, in which it called for it in order for countries to take advantage of looming opportunities from the upswing in global economic activity.

“I also think it is reform the authorities, including the Prime Minister himself, have recognised is important for Jamaica to be able to increase exports, either by removing barriers or introducing measures to facilitate it, such as improving processes and systems by which we trade. 

“The removal of the export certificate of entries to accommodate the creation of a paperless operation at Customs is not only timely but necessary for first world status,” said Issa, who is also the executive chairman of the Cool Group, which he is leveraging internationally. 

Issa was commenting on reports in the Jamaica Observer that the Senate had approved amendments to the Processed Food Act and Processed Food (General) Regulations, 1959, during its sitting at Gordon House, recently.

The aim of the amendments is said to remove the export certificate requirement of entities, in order to enable the implementation of the Automated System for Customs Data (ASYCUDA), which is a web-based system platform designed to transform Customs into a paperless operation by using electronic documents.

Acting Leader of Government Business in the Senate and State Minister in the Ministry of National Security, Pearnel Charles Jr, who reportedly piloted the Bill, said “the move is in keeping with the Government's policy to enhance efficiency in trade and commerce…Removal of the export certificate stipulation will shorten the procedure for processed food exportation.”

Charles also said, “this represents a positive step towards engendering a more trade-facilitatory regime and bringing Jamaica further in line with international best practices which recommend a risk-based approach to production.”

He assured that the “Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) has taken specific measures to ensure that the end users are equipped with the capacity to use this (ASYCUDA) system.”

Charles is also said to have emphasised that the paperless approach is necessary for Jamaica to maximise efficiency as it promotes greater insights and improvements in the country's trade and economy, according to the newspaper.

He informed that “the JCA has indicated it could not incorporate the export certificate component of the Processed Food Act into the ASYCUDA system and has, along with the Bureau of Standards Jamaica, recommended its removal.”

The ASYCUDA is said to have been implemented in Jamaica in 2016, with 90 other countries using it, of which 72 utilise the version that has been rolled out here.

Government Senator, Don Wehby, said the amendments fit squarely into the new National Export Strategy, which “reinforces the priority being given to exports in respect of the Government's economic growth targets and further defines a goal of achieving US$2.5 billion in earnings by 2020.”

Wehby said the Government’s strategic goals for export include: increasing export-led investment; expanding export reach globally; and advocating for reductions in barriers to trade, noting that “the removal of barriers to trade, which include the changes that are being discussed here today, is essential to successfully achieve our strategic goals for export,”  according to the Observer.

Opposition Senator, Sophia Fraser Binns, who reportedly supported the Bill, noted that Jamaica remains a “paper-based society”, arguing that many documents required to import and export serve as hindrances to commercial undertakings, the paper reported.