Importers and business representatives were briefed on Sri Lanka’s incoming digital signature and paperless customs declaration system at an awareness programme held at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium on Tuesday, six weeks before the system is due to go live.
The programme was organised by the Chamber in line with the government’s push to move customs document processing online, according to the President’s Media Division.
Focus on getting traders ready
Officials from LankaPay and Sri Lanka Customs conducted a technical session covering digital signatures, the procedure for obtaining one, and how they are used in practice when submitting customs declarations. Participants discussed the benefits the project is expected to bring to the trade sector.
Seevali Arukgoda, Head of the Revenue Administration Reform and Modernization Bureau and Senior Additional Secretary to the President, delivered a lecture on the government’s digitalisation policy and the Bureau’s role. He commended the contribution of Sri Lanka Customs’ Information Technology Division to implementing the system, which is scheduled to come into operation on October 1.
Attendees included Customs Directors Ruwan Thisera and Sisira Kumara; Bureau Directors W. L. C. Thilakasiri and M. A. Premalal; Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Officer and Secretary-General Shiran Fernando; senior Customs and IT Division officials; LankaPay representatives; and members of the importing and business communities.
The rollout so far
The October 1 date was set in July by Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake at an earlier awareness programme at the SEMA Building in Colombo, following June’s announcement that Customs had completed the technical work for paperless filing.
The system pairs the LankaSign digital signature with ASYCUDA, the UN-developed customs data platform Sri Lanka already uses, allowing declarations to be filed online in a legally valid form. Because changes made after a document is signed can be detected, officials have argued the design also makes tampering harder to conceal.
Tuesday’s session shifts the focus from announcing the deadline to preparing the traders who must meet it. Neither report set out how many importers have obtained digital signatures so far.
