How customs clearance works in Uganda

Before goods arrive

• Appoint a licensed clearing agent. The importer does this in the URA portal under Customs Agent appointment and the agent accepts or rejects ¹.
• Check whether the goods need a Pre-Export Verification of Conformity inspection in the country of origin ².
• Get import licences where needed from the agriculture ministry, the National Drug Authority or the Uganda National Bureau of Standards ².
• Prepare the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading or air waybill, certificate of origin and PVOC certificate where it applies ².

Declaration and assessment

The agent logs in to ASYCUDA World, captures the declaration, validates it and assesses it ¹. Scanned supporting documents must be attached before assessment, each no larger than 500 KB ¹. Once assessed, the declaration counts as submitted and the agent cannot amend it. Amendments are made by customs ¹.

Customs officers can query an entry in ASYCUDA and the agent answers in the system. Customs may ask for more information or a physical examination ¹.

Payment and release

URA tells importers and exporters to pay taxes themselves at a bank against the PRN and advises against giving money to agents to pay ¹. Customs does not process a declaration that needs payment until it is paid. If payment is not made in the set period after assessment, the importer's TIN is suspended ¹.

Duties follow the EAC Common External Tariff: 0 percent for raw materials, 10 percent for intermediate goods, 25 percent for finished goods not available in the EAC and 35 percent for finished goods available in the EAC ².

Permits through the single window

The Uganda Electronic Single Window lets traders send standard information and documents for import, export and transit rules in one place. It is built on ASYCUDA World ³. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives coordinates it and URA is the lead agency ³. URA says 22 of 30 border agencies and operators issue permits and certificates electronically and that import clearance time fell from an average of 14 days to 4 days for selected institutions ³.

Transit and the single customs territory

Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda launched the Regional Electronic Cargo Tracking System in Kampala on 24 February 2017. It tracks goods under customs control from loading to destination on the Northern Corridor ⁴. A URA project manager wrote in WCO News in February 2019 that about 32,000 transit operations worth about US$370 million went through the system from July to December 2018 ⁵.

An EAC and UNCTAD ASYCUDA leaflet says the presidents of Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda decided in 2014 to implement the Single Customs Territory, with a single declaration for goods bound for Uganda and Rwanda ⁷.

Audit findings

Daily Monitor reported on 28 June 2024 that a 2023 special audit by Auditor General John Muwanga found gaps including mis-declaration, concealment of country of origin, undervaluation and weak oversight of authorised economic operators ⁶. URA spokesman Robert Kalumba said URA had installed scanners at 45 border posts and increased valuation reviews ⁶.