WO per cent waste of time
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THE SYSTEM of vat paymen. on entry for imported goods in troduced in November, has in creased Customs clearanc. times by up to 100 per ceni claims the Freight Transpor Association.
The FTA concluded this fron a survey covering more tha 10,000 import entries in Decerr ber and has sent its findings t, HM Customs and Excise an relevant Ministers and MPs.
It recommends setting up review team "with trade ir terests to address the procedu ral difficulties".
The FTA said that defermen statements — the document sued by Customs in mid-montl which lists the goods and va payments for the importers are often late. Poor paperwor was also making it difficult ti read and identify individua items, an FTA spokesman said.
The fact that importers nov have to guarantee payment o vat is considered unfair, too.
This guarantee is obtained from banks at a large cost anything from one to ove three per cent of the required guarantee — and is unfai discrimination between interne tional traders who have to pa. and domestic traders who di not pay such guarantees till spokesman said.
The FTA also said that th survey uncovered other factor causing long delays. The lack c relief for goods imported for ra pair or processing, and the lac of warehousing facility fo goods charged only with va all contributed to the problem.