The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) Regional Customs Transit Guarantee Scheme (RCTG-Carnet) has launched a mobile application to provide clearing and forwarding agents in the region with access to real-time information.
That’s according to the latest newsletter posted on its website.
“The application is accessible on Google Play Store and Apple Store and provides a one stop shop for the agents in member countries to view current bond balance and active Carnets, get notifications on Carnet acquittals and expiry of RCTG Bonds,” according to the post.
“The scheme, popularly known as the RCTG Carnet, is a guarantee used for goods in transit as an undertaking to comply with Customs obligations within each transit country. Its objective is to ensure that governments of transit countries can recover duties and taxes from the guarantors should the goods be illegally disposed of in the local market. The Carnet offers Customs administrations a secure regional system of control replacing the nationally executed practices and procedures.”
Quoted in the statement, Comesa Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe said it was the second of its kind in the world after the European Transports Internationaux Routiers (TIR) Carnet and the only one in the region and the African continent. It was recognised by the World Customs Organization (WCO), he said.