Uptick in Use of Contactless Clearance Process during December – JCA

The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) saw an uptick in the use of its Contactless Clearance Process during the December busy period.

Contactless clearance is the process by which customs will conduct inspection of non-commercial cargo valued at under US$5,000 CIF, without the importer or the agent being present for the inspection.

The JCA rolled out the initiative in May 2023, following a pilot undertaken from October 2022 to January 2023.

“There has been some take-up, but not the type of take-up that we would have hoped. In December, which is our peak season, we saw a greater take-up… because of some strategies that we also implemented in December,” Project Manager, Kingsley Henry, said.

One of those strategies, Mr. Henry said, included going on the ground and interfacing with freight-forwarding agents, listening to their concerns, and addressing them.

“We have seen, since those types of intervention, a significant increase in the number of contactless clearance declarations that we are seeing being processed on a daily basis,” he stated.

Meanwhile, with the introduction of its contactless clearance project for non-commercial goods, the JCA has heightened its security measures, inclusive of body-worn cameras for its officers.

Mr. Henry noted that from the onset, the process would have been a major cultural change for importers, “because [they] would have been used to, for decades, being present when Customs is inspecting their cargo”.

“We know the primary concern that our importers and agents and main stakeholders would have is how do we secure the cargo in the absence of the importer during inspection. And so, one of the things that we did was outline to the warehouse operators, at the onset of the project, some very stringent requirements to improve the security of the space in which cargo is being inspected,” the Project Manager said.

“For example, we outlined to them some strict requirements relating to video surveillance or CCTV system and the need for their camera systems to be of excellent quality, and that it would cover the movement of cargo from that cargo is being offloaded into the warehouses, the storage areas, the inspecting areas and areas for delivery of the cargo,” he added.

Mr. Henry also mentioned that JCA employees are subjected to background checks and security vetting, while adding that employees of warehouses must be subjected to a similar type of background checks and vetting, if they are going to be interacting and handling cargo within the space.

“We have also insisted on sterile spaces for inspection, where those spaces are not only surveyed by cameras but they are also controlled by security guards who will ensure that only authorised persons with the authorised access based on ID (identification), colour coding, have access to that space,” Mr. Henry said.

“No baggage or any other means of conveyance is allowed into that space from any employee of the warehouse who has access or any Customs employee who has access to that space. So those are some of the things that we have put in place,” he added.

The Project Manager also informed that body-worn cameras were introduced for many of the front-line officers, particularly those who will be interfacing and doing inspections on contactless clearance.

“So, those are just some of the things that we have implemented to ensure that the public can have a greater confidence that though the importer won’t be there for inspection, though the agent will not be present, that there will be an improved level of integrity and security when handling their cargo between inspection,” Mr. Henry said.