The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has released its guidelines to customs brokers for the subletting licences to others.
Customs brokers popularly referred to in Nigeria as licensed customs agents are required statutorily to have obtained a license from the NCS before they can participate in the clearance of goods at the airport, seaport, and land border. However, there are very few clearing agents in Nigeria who meet this statutory requirement, hence, the resort to subletting.
The Deputy Controller, Revenue at the Tin Can Island Port Command of NCS, DC K.I. Adeola stated in a memo dated 15th July 2021 and titled ‘Subletting of Agency Licence’, that the holder of a sublet Customs license will be held responsible for irregularities detected in the use of the license.
The memo reads: “Sequel to the rising issues of declarants subletting their agency licence, the following decision has been taken:
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“Any declarant who sublets his/her agency licence should endeavour to ensure that all assessment attached to such SGD is duly paid.
“Any form of irregularities with the documentation on the SGD, the owners of the agency will be held responsible.
“Note that failure to comply with the directive would attract sanctions on defaulted agencies.”
SGD, which refers to Single Goods Declaration form, is a Customs document, which shows unabridged details of imported or exported goods.
The SGD form can be obtained electronically in Nigeria by the importer or customs broker through the Direct Trader Input (DTI) café operated by the Nigeria Customs Service.
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