URA boss John R. Musinguzi
Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) Commissioner General, John R. Musinguzi has said the tax body will increasingly become a business enabler through easing trade facilitation.
The URA boss made the remarks during the launch of additional four modules and URA exemptions on the Uganda Electronic Single Window held at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala on Thursday.
The four automated trade facilitation processes include the Uganda Free Zones Authority (UFZA), Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS), Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), the Dairy Development Authority (DDA), and the URA Exemptions modules.
The Uganda Electronic Single Window project is a government initiative aimed at easing business for traders in accessing services of government regulators, through electronic submission of documents in fulfillment of import, export, and transit-related requirements on a single web portal.
Musinguzi said this new development of faster issuance of electronic permits and licenses to exporters and importers has not only come at the right time during the Covid 19 pandemic era where physical interaction is limited but even more importantly, at a time when the government is providing support for businesses to overcome the turbulence caused by the disease.
“As the economic borders and international markets open up, such initiatives like the Uganda Single Window, are indeed preparing us to position Uganda as a competitive industrial and trading partner in the global economy, which is a vital component of our economic development,” Musinguzi said.
He added: “It gives me great joy that this facility that will ease doing business, endorsed by key government agencies, is also in line with URA’s agenda of being a business enabler and a service-centric organization passionate about the growth and development of all Ugandans.”
He added that some benefits are already being realized from the project.
“The Uganda electronic Single Window system has curbed the problem of trade facilitation delays which has resulted in faster clearance of cargo: for instance, clearance time for imports has reduced from an average of 14 days to 4 days for selected institutions and under 2 days for exports,” Musinguzi said.
He added: “With the addition of these four agencies to the platform, inspection results and quality certificates will now be shared electronically amongst the agencies to further facilitate faster clearance.”
He revealed that in 2019, the World Bank Doing Business report highlighted the Single Window initiative as one of the main reforms that have resulted in ease of doing business and trade across borders. As a result, Uganda’s ease of doing business ranking improved from 127 to 116 and that of trading across borders increased from 161 to 121 for the period 2015 – 2021.
“As the lead implementing agency, we purpose to further consolidate the gains made so far with the already enrolled 22 MDAs. We aim to have at least 30 more MDAs enrolled onto the Single Window platform by the turn of December 2021,” he said, adding: “I salute the Project Implementation Team that comprises liaisons from the 30 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) scoped under the Uganda Electronic Single Window Project for the great milestones achieved so far.”
He applauded the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, for ably coordinating the Uganda Electronic Single Window project, and all the partner MDAs for closely collaborating to see the successful implementation of phase 1 of the project which ended in December 2018, and the current implementation of phase II (the last phase) which began in January 2019.
“I also acknowledge with gratitude the Government of Denmark (DANIDA) through Trademark East Africa (TMEA) for the unwavering support to the Government of Uganda in funding trade facilitation initiatives such as the Uganda Electronic Single Window,” he said, adding that the development of Uganda is indeed a collective effort.
