Areas of Responsibility

Customs plays a key role in handling commercial activities at the sea and air ports and borders by ensuring compliance with national and international laws governing trade. It traditionally fulfills a three-fold mission:

A fiscal mission, of collecting revenue for the State; an economic mission of helping businesses to be more competitive and compiling foreign trade statistics; and a mission of protecting society which involves combating fraud, smuggling, terrorism and organized crime, counterfeiting, piracy, human and drug trafficking, etc. CEPS also implements government policy on the order to ensure compliance with national and international regulations in force regarding the environment.

CUSTOMS
The work of the Customs section of the Service consists in controlling imported and exported merchandise, as follows;

• By ensuring that all goods imported by ship or aircraft are properly accounted for;
• By checking that the declared value of goods liable to ad valorem duty is satisfactory;
• By examining goods to ensure that they are entered at the correct rate of duty and that the proper amount is paid;
• By maintaining revenue control of goods received into and delivered from bonded warehouses;
• By maintaining revenue supervision over the shipment of goods exported from bonded warehouses or on drawback and taking account of dutiable goods exported;
• By ensuring that import and export prohibitions and restrictions are complied with.

• Ensuring that all traders liable to registration or licensing under the Excise laws are duly licensed or registered.
• Taking account of all dutiable goods manufactured and collecting the assessed duty thereon.
• Preventing attempts to evade duty by revenue supervision over manufacturing activities. (The VAT Service is handling this regime on behalf of CEPS)

PREVENTIVE
This consists of the supervision, examination or search of ships, aircraft, vehicles, packages and persons so as to detect and prevent smuggling and similar offences and the prosecution of such offences when appropriate.

POWERS OF THE CUSTOMS OFFICER
To perform these functions efficiently and effectively, all officers have been given powers, authorities and privileges. A Customs officer has the following powers under the law:

• Power to search persons
• Power to patrol freely
• Power to enter factory
• Power to examine stock
• Power to seal off premises, buildings etc.
• Power to execute Writ of Assistance issued by a Tax Tribunal or any court of competent jurisdiction.
• Power to search premises
• Power to stop ships, aircraft or vehicle
• Power to board ship or aircraft
• Power to seize abandoned ship or aircraft.

Generally Ghana CEPS operates the following regimes:

• Import Regime
• Export Regime
• Customs Bonded Warehousing
• Free Trade Zones
• Transit and Transhipment
• Excise Administration
• Temporary Importation
• Reimportation
• Drawback