In Cameroon, the International Customs Day (ICD) was celebrated on January 26, 2022, under the theme: "Scaling up Customs Digital Transformation by Embracing a Data Culture and Building a Data Ecosystem." This theme was decided by the World Customs Organization (WCO). To bring out the appropriateness of the theme, Cameroon’s Directorate General of Customs (DGD) highlighted how digitalization improved revenue collection in the country. For instance, the directorate explains, the volume of revenues generated from vehicle imports rose by 53% year-on-year in 2021. From XAF132.1 billion in 2020, it rose to XAF201.5 billion in 2021. 

For the DGD, this performance was due to the use of the digital platform “Cosmos” starting from the 2020 fiscal year. Officially, during its first year of usage, the digital platform increased customs revenues generated by imported vehicles by 47%. According to the Cameroonian customs administration, thanks to Cosmos, the customs status of imported vehicles can be checked in real-time just by entering the vehicle identification number in the customs database Camcis. "This application, effective in the fight against fraud and illegal trade, has led to a significant increase in customs revenue in the various customs offices," says the DGD.

Source: Business in Cameroon