Sri Lanka Customs now online

Sri Lanka Customs' operations will be fully online by March 31. It is now in the final stages of automating its processes to ensure that the trade is facilitated to the maximum with no operational delays at a minimal cost. The ASYCUDA World (AW) system is now being fully implemented for both imports and exports, Director General of Customs Jagath Wijeweera said recently.

He was addressing a seminar organised by the Sri Lanka Shippers' Council, the apex body for shippers, and the ICT division of Sri Lanka Customs to create awareness about these developments. During the seminar, detailed information of the process and the concept of the operating system was presented. Some of the main areas were the progress and problems of AW Connectivity to the ASYCUDA WORLD related issues, SLPA Manifest requirements and limiting the errors, e-payments, implementation of the manifest, import/export cargo examination and Boat note passing, import/export CusDec submission and limiting input errors.

The participants comprising importers, exporters, freight forwarders, shipping lines, banks and other customs and port users discussed issues and operational problems during the panel discussion.

The expert panel comprised Dr. Tharaka Mahaulpatha, D.A.D.T.D. Pragnaratne, Sudattha Silva, Ismail, Jayawardena of Sri Lanka Customs, Upul Jinadasa of SAGT, Janaka Munasinghe of SriLankan Airlines, Datta Gunasekera of Sri Lanka Ports Authority, Luxaman Perera of Bank of Ceylon and A.S.M.W. Kumarasiri of People's Bank.