Importers who breach the compulsory Palletisation Policy of the Federal Government will now pay 25 percent Freight on Board (FOB) value in Naira equivalent for the unpalletised imports. The Policy commenced regulation of January 1 2018.
The Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun who issued the warning expected operators of shipping lines and containers to ensure that all shippers comply with the directive by palletising all cargoes in containers that are not excluded from the new regulation.
“Any importer or bank discovered to be operating or have issued multiple e-Form ‘M’ for the same transaction(Proforma invoice or commercial invoice) shall have their license seized or blacklisted from doing business with the Nigerian Customs Service.” said the Minister.
It was gathered that the new policy stipulated the fine shall be paid into a Comprehensive Import Supervision Scheme (CISS) account operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The Nigerian Custom Service by this policy is authorized to enforce this new policy.
Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council Mr. Hassan Bello at a stakeholders meeting in Lagos appealed to operators in the maritime sector to duly comply with the rules of the policy which according to him would expose the issue of concealing items during importation.
“It is better for the shipper or consignee to have his cargoes palletized . One of the things people don’t know is that there are lots of issues of concealment, if you examine a container, you will find out that it is not carrying what is ‘said to contain’ but once it is palletized , we know its unitized.”
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