Sri Lanka will begin operating its Paperless Customs Declaration Processing System from October 1, Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake said on Tuesday, putting a firm date on a digitalisation programme that until now had been announced without a timeline.
Dr. Kumanayake was speaking at an awareness programme on digital signatures and the paperless system held at the SEMA Building in Colombo, according to a statement from the President’s Media Division. He described the switch as a key component of the government’s economic reform agenda, intended to bring public services into line with international standards.
The system works by integrating the LankaSign digital signature with ASYCUDA, the UN-developed customs data platform Sri Lanka already uses. That pairing allows customs documents to be submitted online in a form that is legally recognised and secure, Dr. Kumanayake said, making clearance faster and more transparent for importers and exporters.
He argued the design also carries an anti-fraud benefit: because any alteration made after a digital signature has been applied can be detected, the system should make document tampering harder to conceal.
Addressing the concern that has followed the programme since it was first floated, Dr. Kumanayake said the shift would not cost customs clearing agents their jobs, though the nature of their work would change as procedures move online. He said cooperation from all stakeholders would be critical to a successful rollout.
Officials from Sri Lanka Customs, the Revenue Administration Reform and Modernisation Bureau, LankaSign, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, clearing agents and import-export companies attended the programme.
The October date follows the June announcement that Customs had completed the technical work for paperless filing and would make the channel mandatory, and sits within a wider push to move state services online set out in the government’s digital guidelines for remote public service delivery. Customs remains one of the state’s principal revenue collectors, having reached 65% of its July target within the first 14 days of the month.
Source: Paperless customs declaration system to be introduced from October — Ada Derana, July 28.
