{"id":20139159,"date":"2026-10-07T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/?p=20139159"},"modified":"2026-10-07T11:33:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T09:33:05","slug":"call-to-scrap-sudans-costly-advance-declaration-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dabangasudan.org\/en\/all-news\/article\/call-to-scrap-sudans-costly-advance-declaration-system","title":{"rendered":"Call to scrap Sudan Customs\u2019 advance import declaration system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sudanese importers and customs experts are calling for the cancellation of a new Advance Cargo Declaration (ACD) system, saying it will increase import costs, raise consumer prices, and give a foreign company access to sensitive commercial information. The customs police began extending the system to other ports and customs crossings in early October, after initially introducing it at Port Sudan\u2019s Southern Port in Red Sea state. The system requires cargo data and documents to be submitted before shipments arrive, with the aim of speeding up customs clearance, reducing waiting times and storage costs, promoting digitalisation, and facilitating trade.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Importers and customs experts, however, say the system imposes additional fees in US dollars and increases the burden on consumers through higher prices for imported goods. They also object to the involvement of a UAE-based foreign company in collecting the fees, saying the work was previously handled by a department within the customs police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They say giving the company information about imported goods, their sources, prices, and timing could also compromise national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Businessman and Importers\u2019 Chamber member Muawiya Abazid describes the decision to expand the system as \u201cill-timed\u201d given Sudan\u2019s wartime conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, Abazid says Sudan is facing major difficulties in securing strategic and essential goods, and warns that the decision will increase costs for importers and consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also warns that collecting fees in US dollars will further weaken the national currency, questioning why the charges cannot instead be collected in Sudanese pounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slow procedures<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abazid calls on the finance minister and director-general of customs to focus on speeding up clearance and improving customs capacity rather than introducing additional charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan it be reasonable for customs stations in Sudan to operate at a rate of only 25 hours a week?\u201d he asks. \u201cThis situation at Port Sudan or Suakin is a fundamental problem that contributes to delays in clearance and increases costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says delays are already causing shipments and goods to accumulate at ports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery time clearance is delayed, additional charges are imposed by shipping companies, the Sea Ports Corporation, and others,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abazid says authorities should instead improve customs clearance, strengthen security at customs stations, protect citizens\u2019 property, and conduct regular inspections to address operational problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe decision is ill-timed at present, particularly amid the economic deterioration and the decline in the value of the national currency, following the arrival of Dr Kamil Idris and the launch of the Hope Project,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Ill-timed decisions\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abazid also criticises what he describes as the failure of the monetary and economic policies of the \u201cGovernment of Hope\u201d to improve the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says the dollar exchange rate has risen from SDG2,700 to SDG8,300, while restrictions imposed by the UAE on shipping and transit through regional ports have further increased costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have been severely affected by this,\u201d he says. \u201cAfter the cost of a container through the UAE as a global trading hub was 15,000 dirhams, it has now risen to 50,000 dirhams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says additional procedures will further increase the cost of agricultural products, affecting agricultural and industrial production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Abazid warns that Sudanese exports risk losing their competitiveness as costs continue to rise and the government seeks to increase revenues through what he describes as poorly considered measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He hopes the government will reconsider its position and cancel the decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A word of truth intended for falsehood\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customs expert and former Importers\u2019 Chamber member Dafallah Abdullah Yousif also strongly criticises the ACD system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif says Sudan has long used ASYCUDA, a customs system implemented under the World Customs Organization. He says it already includes a pre-clearance stage in which importers submit documents in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe new ACD system is a word of truth intended for falsehood,\u201d Yousif tells Radio Dabanga. \u201cA foreign company registered in the UAE has been brought in to operate it and impose high fees, placing a burden on citizens through higher prices for imported goods on which the country depends amid the suspension of production and the continuing war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says the fees vary according to the shipment. Bulk cargo such as wheat is charged by the tonne, while liquids are charged by the litre, with fees for a single vessel potentially reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll these sums are deducted from import costs in favour of a foreign company without justification, generating millions of dollars in annual revenue,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif says the work could instead be handled by customs itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis work could be assigned to a single customs department by adding just one office, given the advanced level of technology and digitalisation reached by the customs police and its ability to carry out the task fully,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign access to sensitive information<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif says customs\u2019 risk management department could have implemented the programme in coordination with ASYCUDA without costing the state a single pound or requiring a foreign company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also objects to the foreign company gaining access to confidential import and export information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis concerns national information security because you are giving a foreign party information about the type, source, price, and timing of imported goods,\u201d he says. \u201cInformation has become a weapon that can be leaked by a foreign company that has no stake in the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif questions why a foreign company should be given such privileges when a local department is capable of carrying out the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says a previous customs study, conducted under the supervision of the World Customs Organization in Brussels during the tenure of former customs director Lieutenant General Abdel Hafiz Saleh, examined the time required for clearance from a vessel\u2019s arrival until goods left the port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study recommended a single-window system linking importers and the relevant authorities, including specifications, ports, quarantine, and customs departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the relevant employees had to do was open the screen, carry out the procedure, and send the form to the next authority,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Does not serve the economy\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif says the ACD system does not serve Sudan\u2019s economy amid the war and the decline in imports and exports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe purchasing power of ordinary citizens has declined because they have lost their source of income and because prices have risen,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is compounded by displacement and refugee conditions, and imports have been reduced to the bare minimum. Amid this crisis, the finance minister comes along and raises the cost of imports. What has this decision done for the economy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the aim is to shorten clearance times, which is already covered by the Brussels recommendations, the single-window system, and clearance-time studies. They should have retrieved those documents and implemented them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif also questions how the system can operate in areas under the control of the Rapid Support Forces, and says its application would be difficult in western Sudan, at Suakin for small, palletised shipments, and at Wadi Halfa because of the daily movement of trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The decision did not come from customs\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif says implementation would also be difficult in Blue Nile state because of the war. He notes that no goods enter through the southern border, while the western border is outside government control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe scope of application of this decision does not extend beyond Port Sudan, Khartoum airport, and the container customs station in Soba,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yousif insists that the decision originated with the Ministry of Finance, rather than the customs police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen the finance ministry issued it, it sent it to the Sea Ports Corporation, which responded that the matter was outside its jurisdiction and fell under customs,\u201d he says. \u201cThis is where the mixing of political and professional decisions becomes apparent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says customs is an executive rather than legislative authority, questioning why the finance ministry should intervene in its technical work unless customs itself had submitted the recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs for the clearing agents in Port Sudan and Khartoum airport, they can demonstrate the extent to which operations have declined and how difficult the process has become, confirming that this is a word of truth intended for falsehood,\u201d Yousif says.<\/p>\n