Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) has handed over 500 additional electronic seals to the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA) to monitor cargo consignments in order to curb smuggling and improve revenue collection. 

COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya handed over the consignment to MRA Deputy Commissioner General Roza Mbilizi at Msonkho House in Blantyre on Tuesday 4th July, 2017.

Mr. Ngwenya said the electronic seals will not only assist MRA in tracking cargo containers in real time but they will also help determine their speed, stopovers and if there are any diversions.

“The electronic seals will ensure that cargo containers are not tampered with while in transit. They will assist MRA to deal with diversion of high value goods like cigarettes. This is a good development as far as trade facilitation is concerned,” Ngwenya said.   

The handover of the electronic seals is part of the COMESA Virtual Trade Facilitation System (CVTFS), a cargo tracking system which MRA is implementing following the signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the regional trading bloc last July.

The COMESA Secretary General said the regional grouping was moving away from a manual into a digital free trade area by embracing innovations like digital certificates of origin.

Speaking after receiving the consignment, the Deputy Commissioner General said the introduction of electronic seals means that MRA officers will no longer have to accompany cargo trucks which are in transit.

“Our customs officers used to accompany cargo trucks to ensure that they do not offload in transit. This was a difficult process. The introduction of the electronic seals will assist us to track and monitor cargo tracks and prevent smuggling,” she said.   
  
MRA and COMESA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a CVTFS on July 26 2016.

CVTFS is an electronic system developed by COMESA not only for monitoring consignments along different transport corridors but also for integrating other COMESA trade facilitation instruments on one online platform.

It constitutes a Single Regional Window that connects all Customs Offices in a transit corridor from the office of Customs, at the commencement of a journey, to the Customs office of destination.

As a Single Regional Window, all customs administrations in different countries are able in real time to monitor the movement of trucks and cargo. A total of 530 electronic seals are already in use in Malawi and by August MRA will have a total of 2,330 electronic seals in use.