Jamaica Customs roll out new clearance process

Shannon-Dale Reid

11 months ago

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Project Manager for the Jamaica Customs Agency’s (JCA) Contactless Clearance Process, Kingsley Henry.

The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) is making life easier as it has rolled out what it says is a contactless clearance process option for non-commercial cargo.

This comes following a pilot of the process which was undertaken during the period of October 2022 to January 2023, in collaboration with port operators and freight forwarders.

Custom says as a result of the effectiveness and success results of the pilot gave, it has moved to implement the process. This is because the JCA received almost 3,000 contactless clearance declaration submissions.

According to Project Manager, Kingsley Henry, contactless clearance is a process by which the agency will do its inspection of non-commercial cargo, without the importer or an agent having to be present for that exercise.

In the current process, an agent or an importer is present through all the steps…to unpack their stuff and prepare their items for customs.

However, Henry says “Under contactless clearance, we are trying to move away from that and to say to importers and agents, customs will do the inspection and when the cargo has been inspected and released, customs will inform you and all you have to do is come and collect your cargo”.

He noted that, right now, agents are playing a critical role in supporting payment from the importer; but said “What customs is working on is to expand those options. So, we are in discussions with banks. We are in discussions about the use of, for example, digital currency and electronic and digital wallets. We are also exploring other options, in terms of making cashiers available at some of our outposts, like in Port Antonio and in Mandeville”.

Customs expects several outcomes from the initiative, including improved efficiency in the clearance process.