The document summarizes Mauritius' experience with customs reforms and trade facilitation. It discusses how Mauritius Revenue Authority administers taxes and customs duties. Key reforms included automating customs procedures, implementing risk management systems, and reducing documentation requirements which improved Mauritius' ranking in the World Bank's Ease of Doing Business index. Future projects aim to further streamline trade through single window processing and new scanning technologies while maintaining integrity through monitoring systems.

1. Trading Across Borders;
the reform experiences of Mauritius
Presented by
Rajendra Gupta Ramnarain
Section Head, Customs Department
Mauritius Revenue Authority
Maputo, Mozambique
30 June 2014

2. Outline (Broad)
1. Overview of Mauritius Revenue
Authority and Customs
Department
2. Doing Business; its importance
and data for Mauritius
3. Trading Across Borders &
Distance to Frontier Data
4. Main success factors for Mauritius
5. Stakeholders of MRA Customs
6. Customs reforms and
modernization
7. Key Performance Indicators
8. Future projects

3. Mauritius Revenue Authority; an overview
• Corporate body set up under the MRA Act 2004,
and became fully operational on 1 July 2006.
• Administers and collects all taxes due in Mauritius
within an integrated organizational structure
• 12 departments, including Customs, VAT, Income
Tax and other support services such as Finance and
Human resource
• 2 specialized divisions; Internal Audit and Internal
Affairs – Corporate governance
• Increased salary and better conditions of service to
officers

4. • MEMBER OF WCO – ESA
• MEMBER OF WTO (Applying GATT Valuation
since January 2000)
• ACCESSED TO RKC IN SEPTEMBER 2008
• MEMBER OF SADC
• MEMBER OF COMESA
• MEMBER OF IOC
• PTA with Pakistan and Turkey
INTERNATIONAL AFFILIATION

5. MRA; organization structure
Ministry of Finance &
Economic
Development
MRA Board
7 Members
Director General
Management Team
INTERNAL AUDIT
HUMAN RESOURCES
& TRAINING
LARGE TAXPAYERS
OPERATIONAL
SERVICES
FISCAL
INVESTIGATIONS
MEDIUM & SMALL
TAXPAYERS
RESEARCH, POLICY &
PLANNING
CUSTOMS
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
LEGAL SERVICES
FINANCE &
ADMINISTRATION
TAXPAYERS
EDUCATION &
COMMUNICATION
OBJECTIONS,
APPEALS & DISPUTE
RESOLUTIONS
INTERNAL AFFAIRS

6. Taxes, fees and levies collected by MRA
• MRA collects 13 different
types of taxes, fees and levies
• Collected MUR 61.7 billion
which accounts for 90% of all
taxes collected in Mauritius
• VAT accounts for the largest
proportion- 43% followed by
Excise Duty-23%
• Customs Duty accounts for
2%

7. MRA Customs Department; an overview
• Has a total staff of
around 600 officers
• Consists of 10 sections,
each managed by a
Section Head
• Operations at the port,
airport and courier
services
• Customs collects
roughly 50% of total
MRA revenue

8. MRA Customs; organigram

9. World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business
• The World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business annual
reports investigate regulations that enhance
business activity as well as those constraining it in
the world economies.
• The aim is to deliver a body of knowledge that
will catalyze reforms and help improve the quality
of the rules underpinning the activities of the
private sector.
• It is a vital tool that allows economies to track
progress over time and with respect to each other.

10. Trading Across Borders
• One important business area of the Doing Business
Report of particular interest to Customs is the
Trading Across Borders
• It provides valuable indication regarding the
efficiency of Customs and border procedures by
considering the procedures (in terms of documents,
cost and time) involved in trade
• Trading Across Borders, therefore, looks at the
impediments to trade, the simplification of Customs
procedures and the bottlenecks that hinder
economic growth.

11. Doing Business; data for Mauritius
Index DB 2014 DB 2013 DB 2012 DB 2011 DB 2010
Ease of Doing Business 20 19 23 20 17
Trading Across Borders 12 15 21 22 19
Paying Taxes 13 12 11 12 12
Starting a Business 19 14 23 12 10
Dealing with construction permits 123 62 53 39 42
Getting electricity 48 44 44 - -
Registering property 65 60 67 69 66
Getting credit 42 53 78 89 87
Protecting investors 12 13 13 12 12
Enforcing contracts 54 58 61 61 66
Resolving insolvency (closing a business) 61 64 79 (71) (73)

12. Trading Across Borders Data
DB 14 DB13 DB12 DB11 DB10
Ease of Doing Index (Rank)
20
19
23
21 17
Ranking in Africa 1 1 1 1 1
Trading Across Borders Data
Rank
12 15 21 22 19
Document to export (no)
4
5
5
5 5
Document to import (no)
5
6
6
6 6
Time to export (days)
10
10
13
13 14
Time to import days
10 10 13 13 14
Cost to export ($ per container)
675 660 737 737 737
Cost to import ($ per container)
710 695 689 689 689
Customs clearance & Technical control for export (days) 1 1 1 1 1
Customs clearance & Technical control for import (days) 2 2 2 2 2

13. Evolution in ranking for Mauritius
• Doing Business
• 20th
in DB 2014 as compared to
32nd
in 2007
• Trading Across Borders
• 21st
in 2007 as against 12th
in
2014
• 1st
position in the Sub
Saharan Africa region
over the years

14. Distance to Frontier; Trading Across Borders
• Mauritius is one of the 50 economies which have
significantly narrowed the distance to frontier since 2005.
• An improvement of 13.02% is to be noted; the Overall
DTF was 61.4 in 2005 and this improved to 74.42 in 2014
• The Trading Across Borders has also improved by 5.20%
in 2014 (85.92) as compared to 2006 (80.72)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
OVERALL DOING BUSINESS RANKING
Ranking 17 20 23 19 20
score
Distance to Frontier 71.11 71.51 71.53 73.6 74.42
TRADING ACROSS BORDERS
Ranking 19 22 21 15 12
Score
Distance to frontier 84.91 85.50 85.42 85.87 85.92

15. Main success factors for Mauritius
• Political stability and sustained economic growth
• Sound macro-economic and trade policies
• Secure investment location with established rule of law
• Investment and business-friendly regulatory regime
• Flexible, bilingual (English/French) and skilled
workforce
• Social stability with a peaceful and multiethnic blend of
cultures
• Gradual elimination impediments to trade-tariff and non-
tariff
• Continuous reforms and modernization at Customs to
facilitate trade

16. • Stems from government policy – Customs is the
implementation arm
• Attract foreign investment
• Meet deadline for delivery of exports
• Not a stand alone project
• Synergy among different authorities and agencies
• Review the role of Customs – 21st
century Customs –
bring a change in culture
Reforms & Modernisation of
Customs

17. • Reforms started in late 1980’s – Doing business
index started in 2003
• Automation of Customs Procedures –
– ASYCUDA IN 1990
– CMS (Customs Management System) EDI IN 1998
– CMS II IN 2009
– Cargo Community System (September 2009)
Reforms & Modernisation of
Customs

18. Features of CMS

19. Features of CMS
(ctd)

20. Enhancements done on existing
CMS

21. Changes in CMS with the
implementation of CCS

22. • Valuation database
• COR Module in CMS
• Passenger Tracking System (e-SITA PNL)
• On Line Tracking System in Freeport (OTS)
• Second Hand Vehicle Valuation System
USE OF
TECHNOLOGY

23. • NON-INTRUSIVE INSPECTION
• X-RAY SCANNERS INSTALLED AT PORT, AIRPORT,
ARRIVAL HALL AIRPORT, PARCEL POST OFFICE,
COURRIER HUB, PASSENGER TERMINAL PORT,
RODRIGUES
USE OF
TECHNOLOGY

24. • In 2004, MRA Customs started its K9 Unit with
four dogs/trainer teams.
• Currently there are six sniffer dogs for drug
detection
K-9

25. • Creation of risk management section – promote and protect
legitimate trade
• Introduction of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP)
• MRA is ISO 9001 2008 Certified
• Implementation of PCA and PCRD
• Advance ruling-Tariff and Origin
• Regular stakeholders’ meeting
• Paperless declarations; CRM (Customs Relationship
Managers)
• Publications
• Capacity building for internal & external stakeholders
TRADE FACILITATION
MEASURES

26. Rate of Duty Tariff Lines %
0 5639 88.85
5 6 0.09
10 38 0.60
15 297 4.68
30 64 1.01
Rs 130/U 23 0.36
Rs 15/U 7 0.11
Rs 165/U 13 0.20
Rs 30,000/U 2 0.03
Rs 30/U 242 3.81
Rs 65/U 16 0.25
Total 6347 100
TARIFF STRUTURE

27. Average Dwell Time For Cargo
- 2013
Sea Air
Import- Green 21.6 mins 9 mins
Import- Yellow 2 hrs 28 mins 26 mins
Import- Red 12 hrs 48
mins
10 hrs 13 mins
Export 2 mins 6 mins
CARGO DWELL TIME

28. Key Performance Indicators
• % of declaration subjected to physical examination –
including mandatory examination 12%
• Remaining declaration allowed delivery without
examination
• Channels
– Pure Green- 30%
– Yellow- 58%
– Red-12%

29. Key Performance Indicators

30. Projects in the pipeline
• Acquisition of a weighbridge in the port for risk
management purposes
• Acquisition of a new scanner and patrol boat
• Introduction of a Deferred Payment Scheme: to
facilitate trade and comply with requirement of the
RKC and the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
• Acquisition of hand held drug detector equipment
to intensify fight against drugs
• Single Window

31. • Internal Affairs & Internal Audit Division –
reports to board
• Declaration of assets – before appointment,
promotion; every 3 years
• Open office system
• Reduced contact with stakeholders
• Cameras in open areas and interview rooms
• Paperless and electronic transactions
INTEGRITY

32. THANK YOU
E-mail: rajgupta.ramnarain@mra.mu
Tel: +230 202 0500 Ext: 1003
Fax: +230 216 4918
Website: www.mra.mu