In many countries, there is a Customs presence not only at the key points of entry for goods but also in areas far away from the main commercial routes. As a city located in the region of the same name in the East Region of Cameroon, Bertoua is one of those remote areas which have a central Customs office. Unlike the region’s other offices which are situated at the border with the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Republic of the Congo, the Bertoua Office by contrast is located a considerable distance from the land borders. The fastest routes, on poorly accessible roads, out of the city to the Congo and the CAR stretch for 410 km and 246 km respectively.

Despite its remote location, the monthly and annual revenue targets set for Bertoua Customs Office often match those set for border offices. Furthermore, although the three mobile surveillance squads assigned to that office and responsible for combating illicit trade should function as its “enforcement arm” for mobilizing revenue, they each have their own individual collection targets.

Faced with such a competitive environment, Bertoua Central Office has had to adapt in order to meet the revenue targets imposed in an environment of scarce taxable resources.

A Customs Office Chief, his Deputy and four uniformed Customs personnel make up the office staff. Most come from other Customs units in the region, and, despite having changed postings from time to time in the Bertoua sector, they and their families have been settled there for some time. Most of them have been posted in the region, occasionally in the Bertoua office, for over five years. Their tasks principally involve checking declarations, liquidating duties and taxes and archiving Customs declarations[1] in monthly chronological order as well as keeping the accounting records of the Customs office.

The office does not have any vehicles, but it is equipped with IT systems that allow automated Customs procedures, as well as a reliable internet connection to cover the entire clearance process, from the receipt of goods to their release to users.

Over the past three years, three lynchpin activities have been prioritized.

In 2019, Cameroon hosted the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2019). Several projects were launched with a view to redeveloping the training grounds and building stadiums across the country. The companies involved in those projects brought construction machinery and vehicles into Cameroon under the Special Temporary Admission procedure. That endorsed Customs facility granted to the civil engineering companies allows them to bring into the territory vehicles and machinery subject to payment over five years of Customs duties, with the first annual instalment falling due when the vehicles in question are brought into the territory.

In the Bertoua region, numerous companies have imported vehicles from the Republic of the Congo. The main task of the Customs office will therefore be to ensure that those companies make their annual payments when due. An annual table monitoring payment schedules has been drawn up for that purpose by the office to facilitate the arrangement’s renewal prior to its expiry. Those companies failing to meet their commitments have been penalized. The collection of Customs duties and fines for overdue payments has therefore generated revenue.

Cameroon has a wealth of mining resources, in particular gold which is mostly mined in the East Region. One mission spearheaded by the Customs Office since 2022 across all mining sites located in the East Customs sector has contributed significantly to revenue mobilization. The mission has focused on mapping all machinery and vehicles used by those business undertakings searching for gold, precious stones and metals in the region in order not only to create a file of such activity but also to verify the legality of their Customs status.

Teams of Customs officers made unannounced visits to the mining sites to take an inventory of the vehicles in use on the road and other equipment and to identify their owners. Using the IT application known as “COSMOS” and developed by the Information Systems Division at the Directorate General of Customs, teams needed simply to enter the vehicle chassis numbers in the application to obtain data on their Customs status. The types of fraud detected for the most part related to smuggling, bearing in mind that some vehicles and equipment had never passed through clearance. Officers also disputed some of the values declared on import and duly adjusted them; such instances of fraud were referred to the central legal department, with the useful data subsequently being passed on to all offices.

For the past decade or so, Cameroon Customs has been deeply committed to the enormous challenge of combating illicit trade. For instance, since late 2016, it has been developing its own enforcement operation known as Halcomi (presented in Issue 106 of WCO News). The Bertoua office has benefited significantly from this operation because the amounts of evaded Customs duties and fines collected by Operation Halcomi officers in the East Customs sector are counted as part of the office’s revenue. Relations between officers have been harmonious, especially as the Customs officers have occasionally been deployed on Halcomi operations and have played an active role in intelligence sharing. The cooperation established between the Customs and Halcomi teams has been invaluable in uncovering numerous instances of fraud, mainly involving the undervaluation and smuggling of vehicles imported from Benin.

As far as revenue collection is concerned, the hinterland Customs offices should not treat their situation as a handicap; on the contrary, it presents an opportunity to explore the possible alternatives, as demonstrated above. On the downside, the exceptional revenues recorded by the Bertoua office for occasional operations have resulted in increased revenue targets, while we expect the economic operators to raise their level of compliance. Customs officers will therefore need to be even more resourceful and vigilant.

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[1] All procedures are automated, but the archives are still in physical format.