Customs

Earlier this month customs intercepted a number of undeclared goods.

The new operation at the Honiara International Seaport is going on intelligence that a number of importers are attempting to smuggle, under declare or undervalue their goods.

The Minister of Finance and Treasury Snyder Rini said examination activities of this magnitude were challenging but he believed in the dedication of the officials involved and he is confident they would ensure importers were complying with duties and tax payable to the crown.

This decision was announced by the Ministers of Internal Affairs and Finance as an outcome of Council of Ministers decision 18 of 2016.

The Ministers consider that the initiative taken by both departments will achieve improved passenger facilitation at air and seaports and more effective border security.

The Ministers also announced a Roadmap Framework which identified a number of milestones in the transition process including:

The development of appropriate training programmes;

A review of the current physical set-up at the border primary line;

The section in the Act demands that on arrival, the pilot or the owner of the aircraft must deliver to Customs, the certificate of clearance granted to the pilot at the last port or airport of departure.