The Commissioner of Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Mr Aaron Kanor, has clarified the controversy surrounding the payment of customs duties on phones and other items brought into Ghana through the airport as gifts for family and friends.
Mr Kanor explained that such items do not automatically qualify for the duty-free baggage concession under Ghana’s customs laws, particularly where they are brought into the country as gifts.
In a post published on the GRA’s website, the Commissioner defended the position of the Customs Division and urged the public to distinguish between the enforcement of existing laws and the personal views of public officials.
He said: “If the Commission is wrong, let the facts prove it wrong. If the policy needs clarification, let the GRA clarify it. If the law needs changing, let Parliament change it.”
He cautioned against creating an environment where public officials become reluctant to speak on difficult or unpopular issues for fear of losing their jobs.
“Sometimes the truth is bitter, but bitterness does not make the truth a lie. Not everyone who tells you something you don’t want to hear hates you. Some people are simply telling you what they believe you need to know,” he stated.
Mr Kanor said the public should instead listen, question respectfully and debate policies rather than attack officials for communicating positions that may be uncomfortable.He cited Section 17 of the Exemptions Act, 2022 (Act 1083), which provides exemptions for certain passenger baggage.
Under Section 17(1), baggage accompanying a passenger travelling into Ghana is exempt from customs duties and customs taxes, but the exemption does not cover goods intended for sale, barter, exchange or as gifts.
The law also provides that personal effects, other than merchandise, belonging to a Ghanaian who dies outside Ghana are exempt from customs duties and customs taxes.
It further mandates the Minister responsible for Finance to prescribe, through regulations, the permissible quantities and types of imports to which the baggage exemption applies.
Mr Kanor stressed that the wording of the law makes a distinction between personal baggage and gifts, explaining that goods brought into the country as gifts do not qualify for the duty-free baggage concession.
He said the provision was particularly important because some individuals allegedly use the practice of sending goods to friends and relatives as a means of bringing commercial quantities of items into the country and subsequently selling them without paying the appropriate taxes.
According to him, the law is not new and the Customs Division is simply enforcing an existing legal requirement.
“The law is not new. It is only being enforced by the Division as required by the same law that established it,” he said.
The clarification follows public concern and debate over the treatment of mobile phones and other items brought into Ghana by passengers as gifts, with questions raised about whether such items should attract customs duties.
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