Customs urges importers to follow rules
(CNS): In an effort to avert Christmas chaos, Customs and Border Control is urging people importing goods for the holiday season to ensure they take responsibility for those goods and follow all the rules, especially those bringing in things for the first time. Officials said that people importing goods must provide all supplier or sales invoices to appointed agents before the goods arrive to ensure the clearance and release of the packages. “If this is the first time you are importing goods using a courier or broker agent, you will need to register with CBC through Customs Online System (COLS),” officials explained.
Importers need a legible and valid government identification document, such as a driver’s licence or passport. Voter IDs are not accepted because this ID will need to be submitted with electronic applications.
“Once your application is approved, you will receive an email from CBC with information instructing you on how to login. This process can take up to 48 hours so it’s strongly urged that you do this step as soon as possible. After your registration has been approved, you can then appoint or remove your agent as you so desire using COLS,” the CBC Officials added.
Offering tips on a successful import experience, the CBC said that as soon as people know they are receiving goods, they should gather the necessary documents and share them with their agent. The key documents, which should be made into PDFs, are the supplier or sales invoice. Any additional documentation, such as clearance from the Department of Agriculture or other official sources, required to collect packages needs to be acquired before the shipment arrives.
The CBC warned people not to omit or misrepresent the value of goods and that they should not assume “everyone” will know the value of a given item. Hand written invoices are not normally accepted and importers are responsible for providing all necessary and proper documentation, not the agent.
Anyone whi is not sure what other information is required should ask their agent or CBC’s Customer Support Centre.
Anyone entering CBC offices to make payments for imported goods must wear a mask and practicing social distancing while waiting for service.
For assistance call CBC’s Customer Support Centre at 649-4579
Press 0 and then 1 for import assistance
or email CBCOnlineSupport@gov.ky with questions or queries relating to imports.See here to view the documents needed to clear goods or follow CBC on Facebook.
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Category: Local News
What is the status of the Doctor’s Express fiasco and who within CBC has been held accountable?
There is a woman working there collecting payments. Don’t know her name but she could really use some customer service training. She is like a starving pitbull. No good mornings or thank you just snarls at you when you approach her window and acts as though she is doing you a favor by taking YOUR money. I have been told customers complained to management about her several times but nothing was done!
Yes, I have complained regarding her myself, totally disrespectful. It’s been going on so long, she must have some dirt on management there.
Starving pitbull is the right analogy, couldn’t think of a more fitting term in that case.
Shouldn’t they be wearing name badges?
Chuckles strikes again.
They are a joke, They wanted to charge me for a duty free item and when I told them its duty free they said no. I said check the law, He thens calls the his boss who also say I had to pay which I also stated check the law its duty free. After waiting and waiting I then asked them to open it on their screen for me to specifically point out to one section of the law. And then they said no you still have to pay because of xyz and then i had to show another part of law and they were like yeah its there in black and white…paid nothing but what a waste of time, costom officers that dont even know their own law..
It amounts to theft. They demand money they are not entitled to. Across many Government Departments. No one ever does anything about it. They cannot. The risk of retribution is real.
That is very true. Most officers (RCIPS, Customs, Immigration, etc.) don’t know the law they are enforcing. It’s unfortunate but true.
In my experience it is intentional. They cannot properly enforce what they don’t know. Keeping the regulators dumb permits illegality to continue across society. Non payment of pensions and overtime. Littering. Clearing mangroves without permission. Cheating workers of overtime payments. Building cheap rental structures in your back yard.
All made possible by law enforcers not knowing the law.
(Or being overworked and unable to keep up with demands, or simply being corrupt). Take your pick. It no longer matters what the real reason is. The whole thing is becoming a shit show.
It happen to me three times and I won everytime! They need go back to school and learn how to read the law!
Well, if it happens regularly, they should know than, since customers like you basically teach them the law they are allegedly enforcing.
COLS is a sweet dream when compared to those two older ‘ladies’ in the corner who take the payments. How they are still there I don’t know. Customs should urge them to follow the rules of basic decency.
That is so true. They don’t know how to deal with customers and should be locked in the back somewhere if management is afraid to let them go.
They are not allowed to think. They are drones, or Marionettes moving (or not) at the command of the cabal.
I seem to have had a totally different experience, I used to hear from CICA and MBE it was all customs delaying everything, BUT no doing it myself I can clear things in a few days it’s really easier and far cheaper. MBE are still good for small items though, however I can ship and clear sea freight goods quicker then they air freight them in……
COLS is a nightmare. Front line customs agents are urging importers to group all items with the same duty rate together under a catch all code when entering a declaration. What is the sense of having a voluminous code book? I dare bet there are large importers and couriers who are exploiting this shortfall. And to add, if ESO ever try querying COLS for data on imports they’ll generate more garbage output.
Customs IT department seem oblivious to the issues with COLS and don’t communicate with Customs agents or seem to want to solve long standing issues with the system. Is it beyond their pay grade to rectify these issues?
Front line workers have to employ work arounds for importers with COLS problems which is not how the system was designed to work. Obviously IT are over their heads in resolving this. The Director needs to roll some heads to sort this out or his head needs to roll. We the consumers are again not receiving the service we’re paying through the nose for.
CIG is a world-wide joke. Can’t do anything. No sense for me to elaborate as I don’t write novels.
What a ball ache!
I’d rather not buy any Christmas gifts and keep this gravy train running.
I’m still eking out my clothes, nothing new bought in months. These clowns ain’t getting my dollars, neither are the local chancers who double prices, and then add a bit for good luck.
The import regulation/protocols are absurd. Nobody in the offices have a clue about what they are doing. AND, they walk, talk, work at a snail’s pace and just dare you to question them! A disgrace.
And in related news Importers urge Customs to follow the rules.
And how about not taking 10 days to clear personal packages.
#useless.
10 Days????? How about 10 weeks (plus)! CIG is going down the drain.
The rules change depending on which customs officer you get. How are we supposed to know the rules!
Exactly! Was traveling through Honduras, had to pay off 2 agents. Cayman is now receding into 3’rd world jungle. You wanted this… You got it!
Registration process can take up to 48 hours???? I’ve been waiting for 2 months for them to approve my agent.
Be patient (I’m being sarcastic), it will/may/might/probably not get processed… #Caymanspeed.
I’m at 2 weeks now, and no response to follow ups. Can’t they just make it so that computers handle everything and the agents can just hangout and video chat the entire shift? I would really rather just deal with a computer.
Every year they get worse. Not even immigration (WORC) is this bad
Gotta love the “do not accept voter registration cards” as ID point. They are good enough to operate democracy, but not good enough to clear a Christmas gift through customs.
Very true. I was told that, because voter IDs can be easily forged, they are not acceptable, but that passports and drivers license are acceptable. Wouldn’t it appear that a drivers license and voter registration ID are very, very similar.
I agree that, if voter registration ID is good enough for democratic voting for Caymanians, it should suffice as acceptable identification of who you are.
Voter ID and D/L all produced on same machine with same info so no difference. I wonder who came up with the idea that one is more easily forged.
And both are sometimes issued to persons who are unqualified to hold them.
Doctors Express ring any bells Chuckie?
Yet every govermemt that comes in to power have not made any change or press on him or his department. I guess the one who has some real power is chucky.. He will stay till he feels it’s time to stop taking our hard earn money and while crushing the ppl with its backwards ways.
Sounds about right.
Chucky Cheese not out of hot water yet. Neither Dr. Lee. Wonder if any special protection is being given?
Backwards, inefficient, obstructive, unvaccinated bureaucratic overreach.
… word salad