Sri Lanka Customs will introduce a paperless Customs Declaration System from 1 October, and briefed representatives of the International Monetary Fund on the plan at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday, the Daily Mirror reported.
The discussion was held under the patronage of Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake. Officials from Sri Lanka Customs and the Revenue Administration Reform and Modernisation Bureau set out the implementation plan, the awareness programmes being run ahead of the switch, and the department’s technical readiness.
The IMF representatives acknowledged the work done by both institutions and said they were willing to provide support for the rollout.
Who was in the room
Attending were Seevali Arukgoda, Senior Additional Secretary of the Revenue Administration Reform and Modernisation Bureau, and Customs Director General Wimal Liyanagama, along with senior officials from both bodies. The IMF was represented by Dinar Prihardini and Klakow Akepannidtaworn.
What the system changes
Under the new arrangement, importers and businesses submit Customs documentation electronically rather than on paper. Reporting elsewhere on the project — including coverage of an awareness programme run for importers by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce — describes the mechanism as the integration of LankaSign digital signatures with the ASYCUDA Customs management system, so that declarations carry legal validity when filed online. That account is noted here as background; its publication date could not be independently established, and it is not relied on for the facts above.
The Daily Mirror’s report does not describe the technical design, and gives no figure for the volume of declarations processed annually or the expected saving in clearance time.
Why the IMF is being briefed
Customs modernisation sits inside the revenue administration workstream of Sri Lanka’s IMF programme, alongside tax administration and measures to broaden the tax base. An IMF team is currently in the country: the mission arrived on 10 September and the Fund has publicly defended its revenue-based approach to fiscal consolidation during the visit.
The briefing also follows a period of scrutiny at the department itself. An internal probe by the Special Investigation Unit into an incident at the Colombo Port is among the matters the department has been dealing with this month.
Still not reported
The Daily Mirror does not say whether the 1 October start is mandatory for all declarations or phased, what happens to traders who are not ready, or whether paper filing remains available as a fallback. It does not report what form the IMF’s offered support would take, whether the system has been piloted, or how the change interacts with the broader national single window for trade.
