Customs and Excise Department launches website

By Melissa Bryant
Reporter~SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – IN an effort to improve efficiency, transparency and business facilitation, the St. Kitts-Nevis Customs and Excise Department has launched a website, which can be found at http://skncustoms.com/.

The website’s launch coincided with yesterday’s (Jan. 26) 56th Anniversary of International Customs Day, which was held under the theme “Customs and the environment: protecting our natural heritage”.

According to Assistant Comptroller of Customs Kennedy DeSilva, the new website would enhance the abilities of the Federation’s customs officers to effectively fulfil their mandate, which is to collect and protect all revenues with fairness and integrity and to enforce compliance laws at borders.

“The website contains useful information including tariff classifications, the federal tax legislation, policy updates and the ability for persons to submit e-declarations. All of this is information that persons have long wished was more accessible and now it is,” said the Assistant Comptroller.

Minister of Finance Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris called the launch of the website “a momentous event” and deemed it a fitting way to celebrate International Customs Day.

“The ease of doing business is an imperative in our global environment. This new website will provide a modern, transparent and efficient medium to disseminate information that is vital to local and foreign investment. ~~Adz:Right~~

“This department appreciates that the easier it is to do business in this country the greater investment flows, job creation and economic growth will be. Its officers will meet the expectations of its customers and the public for fair, transparent and timely administrative practices which strike the appropriate balance between trade facilitation and enforcement of law,” declared Harris.

The Finance Minister referred to the department’s “already impressive track record”, which he said was evidenced by a United States Agency for International Development study that ranked the St. Kitts-Nevis Customs and Excise Department as having the most efficient customs process in the region and ranking within the top 10 performers globally.

Harris stated that this achievement pointed to the department establishing itself as a regional force to be reckoned with and commended its officers for their commitment to being world class providers of quality customs service.