Goods in Transit

I-INTRODUCTION

To facilitate the transport and transit of goods between the territories of ECOWAS Member States, the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) signed in May 1982 two (2) Regional Conventions, namely the Inter-State Road Transit (ISRT) Convention No. A/P4/5/82 [Convention] and the Inter-State Road Transport (ISRT) Convention No. A/P2/5/82 [Convention].

The ISRT Convention established a system of Interstate Road Transit between Member States which allows the transport of goods by road under suspension of duties, taxes and prohibitions from a Customs office in one Member State to a Customs office in another Member State.

In order to ensure the smooth running of the ISRT, an operation guarantee mechanism was instituted by the Additional Protocol No. A/SP.1/5/90 of 30 May 1990 [Protocol], which consists of a Chain of National Bonds, intended to guarantee the duties, taxes and possible penalties incurred on the territory of the Member States, crossed on the occasion of the ISRT of goods.

To this end, a contribution to the Guarantee Fund based on a rate of 0.25% of the CIF value of the goods is levied by each National Guarantor [1] of the countries through which the goods pass.

The ISRT A/P2/5/82 Convention of 29 May 1982 [Convention] defines the conditions under which road transport between ECOWAS Member States must be carried out.

It applies to road transport of passengers and goods, and defines in particular (i) the road axes recognised as Inter-State axes, (ii) the axle load, (iii) the technical characteristics of vehicles for the transport of persons and goods, (iii) the transport permits.

The ISRT is supported by Protocol A/P1/5/82 [Protocol] establishing the ECOWAS Brown Card on Third Party Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance and the Additional Act A/SA.17/02/12 on the Harmonization of Standards and Procedures for the Control of Vehicle Dimensions, Weights and Axle Loads of Heavy Goods Vehicles in ECOWAS Member States.

II-RE-EXPORT TO HINTERLAND COUNTRIES

Customs regime D25 or EX3/3000 known as “direct re-export of goods

1-A THE ARRIVAL OF THE GOODS IN THE COASTAL COUNTRY

STEPS 1 – The documents to be provided to the forwarder are the following:

  • Transit Order (TO).
  • Commercial Invoice bearing the name and address of the consignee.
  • Packing list.
  • Bill of Lading (or Original B/L) stating “In Transit to the Country Indicated”.
  • Preliminary Import Declaration – PID, (case of Burkina Faso).
  • I.F.S (Intention to Import with financial settlement to be established in Mali and Niger).
  • UFI (Unique Fiscal Identification for Burkina Faso).
  • TIN (Tax Identification Number for Mali).
  • TIN (Tax Identification Number for Niger).

STEP 2 – The freight forwarder carries out the following operations:

With the shipping company:

  • Payment of Port Charges by the authorised customs agent.
  • Payment of B/L exchange by the authorised customs agent.
  • The Shipping Company establishes the Manifest with the mention “in Transit” before the arrival of the vessel and transmits it to the Customs for verification and signature.

With the Customs:

The authorised Customs agent makes and prints the Customs Detail Declaration (D25) and the T1 document, under the computerised Customs programme SYDAM – ASYCUDA World – via the GUCE platform [Cf. Circular N°1914 of the DGD] and carries out :

  • The Customs Circuit.
  • Obtains the ‘Bon à Enlever’ from Customs.
  • Organises the Visit of the Packages with Customs, in case of unloading of the container.
  • Establishes the Loading Plan with the Grey Card of the means of transport (truck).

With the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI-CI) [Cf. DGD Circular N°1530]:

  • Payment of the Single Deposit of 0.50% (i.e. 0.25% for Côte d’Ivoire and 0.25% for the second country crossed) of the total value of the supplier invoice.
  • Payment of the Chamber of Commerce’s service of 12,500 F CFA per truck.
  • Installation of the Chamber of Commerce’s GPS beacon on the truck (for electronic cargo tracking).

2-DEPARTURE OF THE GOODS AND CLOSURE OF THE TRANSIT OPERATION PROCEDURE AT THE BORDER CROSSING

[Cf. DGD Circular N°1914].

STEP 1 – The goods depart for the indicated destination according to the following documents

  • The original Customs declaration signed by Customs.
  • The T1 declaration signed and a certification sticker affixed by customs.
  • Supplier’s invoice.

STEP 2 – Control and clearance of the declaration by the Customs Office of exit [Cf. Circular DGD 1914 of 6 April 2018 [C2018-1914]) by authentic Visa of the Ivorian Customs Office of exit on the T1 document. It is materialized on the electronic version in SYDAM and is equivalent to a release.

The conforming arrival of the goods is confirmed by the transaction “close conforming” in the ASYCUDA – ASYCUDA World Computerised Customs System.

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[1] In Côte d’Ivoire, the National Guarantor is the Côte d’Ivoire Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The Chambers of Commerce also perform this function in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo and Niger.