CTN Policy Accepted By Traders – GUTA

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has announced with great happiness to the general public that, many traders have accepted the Cargo Tracking Note(CTN) introduced by government of Ghana and Customs Division.

In a statement signed by the Deputy General Secretary of GUTA, Emmanuel Nana Poku Acheampong and forwarded to thepublisheronline.com, he expressed happiness in the dimension of better change of acceptance.

According to him, the Government of Ghana and Customs Division (GRA) had reviewed the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) policy for the betterment of importers and traders.

”The new-reviewed Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) is not applicable to importers and traders whose capacity is maximum 1-3 Teus per month which is equivalent to eighteen 40feet high queue containers within a year and also 36 20feet container within a year for each trader or importers, and due to this great change and concessions by Nana Addo’s government, traders and importers within Greater Accra Region and for that matter Ghana should support the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) policy.” – he said in the statement.

Explaining further, he cautioned the Ghana Institute of Fright- Forwarders (GIFF) to desist from sabotaging the Cargo Tracking Note policy.

According to Nana Poku, the new-reviewed CTN is “not applicable to importers and traders whose capacity is maximum 1-3 Teus per month which is equivalent to eighteen 40feet high queue containers within a year and also 36 20feet container within a year for each trader or importers.”

Describing the review as a great change, he called on all traders and importers to support the Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) policy.

He further indicated that, the fee will not be borne by SHIPPER or EXPORTER at port of origin to enable success progress of the initiative.

“I strongly urge GUTA Greater Accra Region to put all differences aside and welcome the policy in good faith since we have a President Nana Akuffo Addo who is ready to listen to us,” he said.

The CTN system requires importers to provide real time information on all consignments to Ghana to a global monitoring platform. The cost, which ranges from $100 to $200, is being borne by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).

”However, I strongly urge GUTA Greater Accra Region to put all differences aside and welcome the policy in good faith since we have a President Nana Akuffo Addo who is ready to listen to us” – the statement further explained.

Background

The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) introduced the Cargo Tacking Note system on July 1 for all shipments into the country.

However, prior to its introduction, the Union together with GIFF kicked against it siting some loopholes in the policy.

This led government to review the policy for the betterment of the importers and traders

The freight forwarders embarked on a strike from August 27, 2018 to protest against the implementation of the Cargo Tracking Notes (CTN) system at the ports. The action was necessitated by what the businesses described as government’s failure to heed concerns on the policy which impedes trade facilitation.

The business associations that participated in the action included; the Customs Brokers Association of Ghana, the Association of Customs House Agents Ghana, Freight Forwarders Association of Ghana and the Importers and Exporters Association of Ghana.