The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, LCCI, has called for restoration of Pre-Release of cargo regime to importers and manufacturers, saying “The new import guideline ‘Pre-Arrival Assessment Report (PAAR) is fraught with capacity challenges.”

In a statement, Tuesday, LCCI President, Remi Bello, lamented “The PAAR which was originally programmed to be issued within 6 hours now takes weeks to be released. And without the issuance of PAAR, other cargo clearance procedures cannot progress.”

“In the meantime, the Pre-Release of cargo pending the resolution of the transitional problems should be restored. Speedy processing of import document is an important element in the trade facilitation process; it is also a major variable in the 2014 World Bank Ease of Doing Business ranking which is currently at a lowly 147 out of 189 countries profiled,” he said.

He warned that the delay in processing PAAR has the following consequences for importers including manufacturers: “High demurrage charges imposed by the shipping companies and the terminal operator, high interest charges on funds used to finance the imports; delays in the delivery of raw materials to various factories which disrupts production time lines.