11 Jul 2018

Government has decided to draft a new customs and excise legislative framework with the aim of strengthening capacity of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service(BURS) to combat illegal cross-border activities.

Presenting the Customs Bill to Parliament on Monday, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Kenneth Matambo said there had been an increase in the international trade volume over the years, which inadvertently increased opportunities for cross-border and trans national crimes such as smuggling of goods and importation of prohibited and restricted goods.

Minister Matambo said the proposed Customs Bill therefore, among others, aims at capacitating the BURS and positioning it to be able to deal with escalating cross border activities. 

In the light of regional and international developments, Mr Matambo said Botswana should implement modern customs legislation in line with Article 22 of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU)

In this regard, Minister Matambo said it had been decided to repeal the current Customs and Excise Duty Act and prepare two separate pieces of legislation.

He said the proposed Bill would address the concern of illicit financial outflows which had been a concern for money laundering and would also include clauses that would empower customs officers to carry out external bodily searches. 

The Bill, he said, will address special procedures such as provision for travellers, licensing duty free shops and postal traffic as well as declaration of postal items and procedures for goods under stores. 

Contributing to the Bill debate, Gaborone Bonnginton South MP, Mr Ndaba Gaolatlhe highlighted that the Bill was long overdue as Botswana drives to harmonize her customs processes with other regional counterparts. 

The legislation on its own, he said, should be seen as an enabling framework that provides the foundation on which it would be possible for the country to respond comprehensively to the idea of using an infused customs approach as a tool to enhance the country’s economic competitive edge. 

He said the country’s customs approach should focus more on regarding customs collection as an integral part of trade facilitation and not be perceived simply as a tax collection and border protection agency.

Mr Gaolatlhe said the country needed to take note that 50 per cent of cross border trade involves intermediate goods, which reflect the fragmentation of production networks and vertical specialization hence this should be signal of the importance to deliver goods on a deadline so as to dominate in the value chain.

“A dominance economy in the value chain is more competitive in attracting investments and growing the local economy,” he said. 

The Gaborone Bonnginton South legislator applauded government efforts to harmonise customs process with its trading partners, adding that it would contribute immensely to the globalisation process of the supply chain and the growth of e-commerce.   

Sefhare/Ramokgwebana MP, Ms Dorcus Makgato also appreciated the Bill, highlighting that as part of the global village, it was imperative for Botswana to align her customs regulations to the current trading conditions.

She said Botswana was part of the global trade, therefore it was necessary to level the trade regulation to be at par with the rest of the SACU region.

 Nkage legislator, Mr Edwin Batshu also supported the Bill, but called for the availability of high technology scanning devices at all border posts.  

Mr Batshu said there were goods that got  easily smuggled into the country at border posts due to lack of scanning devices.

 Parliament adopted the Bill and it would go to committee stage at a later date. BOPA