Customs Clearance Practice and Related Challenges in the Ethiopian Customs Commission: a case of Pharmaceutical
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Date
2023-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Background: Pharmaceutical at ports and/or custom stations need to be cleared in the shortest
possible time due to their sense of urgency and requirement of special handling. However, the
customs clearance procedure in most countries is time-consuming, leading to unnecessary
delays and financial losses. In Ethiopia, there is a paucity of information about pharmaceutical
customs clearance practice and related challenges.
Objective: To assess pharmaceutical customs clearance practice and to identify challenges in
the Ethiopian Customs Commission (ECC).
Methods: The study was conducted in ECC from September 2019 to January 2020. A
concurrent mixed methods design was employed. Quantitative data (using a structured
questionnaire, and data abstraction formats), and qualitative data (using Key Informant
interview guide) were collected at the same time frame. Quantitative data were analyzed using
descriptive (percentage, frequency, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (t-
test and ANOVA). For the qualitative data, thematic analysis was applied.
Results: Pharmaceutical transaction worth of $574,487,522 were cleared by the ECC in
2019/2020. Of these, more than half of the pharmaceutical were imported from Europe (57.2
%). Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency (EPSS) (63%) was the major importer of the
products. The overall mean score for customs and trade facilitation standards was 3.13 (±0.6).
On the other hand, 2.85(±0.74) was the overall mean score for efficiency of pharmaceutical
custom clearance. This study showed that Pharmaceutical Importers (PI), Local Manufacturers
(LM) and EPSS face various challenges in dealing with customs clearance procedure. Some of
these include: delays and interruptions in the electronic system (Electronic Customs Valuation
System (ECVS)), gaps in valuation system (not being invoice based and inconsistent), and poor
pharmaceutical handling, and delays in the inspection of pharmaceutical imports by EFDA
officers.
Conclusion: Most of customs and trade facilitation standards are not being applied in ECC
custom stations and the overall pharmaceutical customs clearance process was found to be
inefficient. As a result, EPSS and Pharmaceutical companies are facing numerous challenges
and their operations are being affected negatively. Consequently, patients are forced to bear
unnecessary costs incurred due to the system inefficiency
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Keywords
Customs, Customs clearance, ECC, Ethiopia, Import.