The administration of President Buhari commenced the laudable initiative tagged "The ease of doing business" which has a committee working with the office of the Vice President to make this vision a reality. The committee seems to have covered much ground in its mandate and I think this is commendable. However, the adjustment made to the import and export documentation as evidenced in the recent circular (TED/FEM/FPC/GEN/01/004) released by the Central Bank of Nigeria is seen to be doing more arm than good as it leaves the practitioners to be more confused. In addition to this, I think there are more important issues that need to make import-export trade easy in Nigeria beyond documentation.
Let me start with importation documents. Before now, the pre-import documents (these are the documents required to be submitted by an importer to apply to the government for importation through the banks) include Form M, Proforma invoice, Certificate of incorporation, Marine Insurance and relevant permit. The post-import documents (these are the documents required by an importer to pay Duty, clear the goods and inform the banks that the goods have been legally cleared from the port ) are divided into pre-clearance documents and post-clearance documents. The pre-clearance documents include Bill of Lading, invoice, packaging list, manufacturer certificate, combined certificate of value and origin and pre-arrival assessment report (PAAR) . The post clearance documents include single goods declaration, duty receipt, exit note. The total number of documentation for both pre and post import documentation are fourteen (14).
The new circular released by the CBN on April 19,2017 with subject -Revised Import Export Documentation with Timeline For Processing Form NXP- removed 6 documents and reduced the import documentation to 8 and these include Bill of Lading, Certificate of Origin, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, Exit Note, Form M, Single Goods Declaration and Product Certificate.
These revised Import documentations throw up a number of questions that I think should be addressed. Some of these include the following:
The way these documents were lumped together on the CBN circular is not clear to the player in the industry. This therefore makes it very imperative for the government to split these revised Import documentations into pre and post Import documentations
The Revised documents does not contain proforma invoice. Does this mean that proforma invoice is no longer needed for pre Import documentation or is it now being replaced with the commercial invoice?
The list also contains product certificate which is a pre Import document needed to be processed by an importer of a SON (Standard Organisation of Nigeria) regulated products. What of items that need NAFDAC, DPR, NERC certificates, are these no longer required?
It was also observed that this list does not contain PAAR (Pre Arrival Assessment Report) a document needed for duty assessment. Does this mean that PAAR is no longer required as part of the post Import documentation?
On the other hand, the Export Documentations also have some issues that need to be resolved. Before now, the pre export documentation (these are documents needed by exporters to legally ship their products out of Nigeria) include NXP form, Proforma Invoice, Certificate of Incorporation, Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Certificate and Receipt for the payment of Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) while the post export documentations include Bill of Lading, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, Certificate of Origin, Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI), Single Goods Declaration (SGD) and Custom endorsed NXP. The total number of documentation for both pre and post export documentation are twelves (12).
The same circular released by the CBN with subject -Revised Import Export Documentation with Timeline For Processing Form NXP- removed five (5) documents and reduced the export documentations to 7seven (7) and these include Bill of Lading, Certificate of Origin, Commercial Invoice, Packing List, NXO form Clean Certificate of Inspection (CCI) and Single Goods Declaration (SGD).
These revised export documentations also raise a number of questions that I think should be addressed. Some of these include the following:
The way these documents were lumped together on the CBN circular is not clear to the operators in the industry. This therefore makes it necessary for the government to split these revised export documentation into pre and post export documentations
The Revised documents does not contain proforma invoice. Does this mean that proforma invoice is no longer needed for pre Import documentation or is it now being replaced with the commercial invoice?
The Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC) Certificate is also missing on the circular. Does this mean that this NEPC document is no longer required for the pre export documentation?
Also missing on this list is the receipt of payment of the Nigeria Export Supervision Scheme (NESS) which is 0.5% of the Free on Board (FOB) of the goods. Does this mean that these fees are not going to be paid again by the exporters?
While we appreciate the intention of the government needs to improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria, I will like to say that the government work with the relevant stakeholders (especially the Bank and Nigeria Custom Service and not just the Central Bank of Nigeria) to be able to come up with the best combination of trade documentation (and clearly separate them into pre and post import-export documentations) to ease the process of both importation and exportation causing confusion.
For more information please send me an email bayemibo@3timpex.com
