OT Africa Line Service Brochure
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For comprehensive details highlighting our service from Niger
please see our latest service
brochure.
Waiver Information ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Type: BSC
General Agent: Conseil Gabonais des Chargeurs ( C.G.C. ), 4 Avenue Franklin
Roosevelt, 75008 Paris, France Tel: 01 56 59 91 82 Fax: 01 49 53 09 31
Representative France: Syndicats des Transitaires, Dunkerque, France Tel :
03.28.59.07.65 Fax : 03.28.63.35.42 E-mail: umc@umcdk.com
Documentation requirements: Mention the BSC number on the Bill of Lading & the
manifest
Inspection Agency: Cotecna
Cargo Tracking Note - October 2001
Niger has implemented a "Bordereau de suivi de cargaison" (cargo
tracking note) issued by the representatives of the "Conseil Nigerien
des Utilisateurs des Transports" (CNUT) at ports of loading. This document
is now compulsory for customs purposes. For a list of agents please click
here.
PSI
---------------------------------------------------------------------- [ Cotecna ] [ PSI of
Imports ]
Niger PSI - June 2003
Inspection agency Cotecna has extended its shipment inspection contract in
Niger for another three years. The agreement also gives Cotecna the green light
to install a computerised risk management system and open three new offices
at the border with Nigeria.
Decree no. 96-021/PCSN/MF/ P of 12 1996
Arrete no. 184/MF/P/MCA/TT of 11 June 1996
Appointed PSI company
Cotecna
Scope of PSI
Quality and quantity
Export market price ( for foreign exchange purpose)
Customs valuation ( Brussels Definition of value until 13 December
2001; as of 14 De 2001 ACV will apply)
Customs classification
Import elegibility (for information)
Minimum order value subject to
PSI
XOF 2'000'000
Partial shipments
Subject to PSI if total order value is equal to or exceeds XOF 2'000'000
Inspection Requirements
Sealing of FCL Container
Yes
Second Hand Goods Licence
Yes - should be declared as such
Labelling requirements
Trademark, name, origin and expiry be shown on limited
shelf life retail p and products in bulk for repackaging labelling
for cigarretes and alcohol.
Other special requirements
N/A
Price Comparision/ Seller's Invoice Requirements
Buying / confirming commission
Commission must be declared
Insurance
Where applicable. No restriction
Financial interest
Where applicable. No restriction
Final invoice to show
FOB, freight, insurance and total value where applicable)
as well as any advance payment
Reporting Requirements
Documents required to issue report
Final invoice, showing FOB and total value
Type of report issued
- To seller: security label affixed to seller's commercial
invoice, or a Non-negotia of findings (NNRF) named also Avis de Refus
D'attestation (ARA)
- To importer: CRF (Clean Report of Findings) or Non Negotiable Report of Findings
(NNRF)
Report purpose
-Security Label: presentation (by seller) to negotiating
bank
- ADV and ARV : for the Niger Authorities to collect the correct amount
of import duties and taxest
Inspection Fees
Inspection fees are paid by the Government. However, Cotecna
may invoice the seller in the event of supplementary inspection visits (
due to unsatisfactory results). In any case, the costs incurred, by the seller
in presenting the goods for inspection such as un-packing, handling, testing,
sa, re-packing, etc. are for the account of the seller.
Listing Of Goods Exempted from PSI
Imports with a total FOB value below XOF 2'000'000 (100XOF =
1FRF)
The following goods are exempted from shipment inspection:
a) Precious
stones and precious metals
b) Objects of art
c) Scrap metals
d) Explosives and pyrotechnic products
e) Arms and ammunitions
f) Live animals
g) Newspapers and periodicals
h) Personal effects and household items including one used vehicle as a personal
belonging on the occasion of a change of domicile, duly confirmed by the
authorities on the previous domicile
i) Personal gifts
j) Postal parcels
k) Commercia samples
l) Donations by foreign governments or international organizations to the
State, pu schools and libraries, religious missions, charity organizations
and philanthropic
f recognized to be of a public necessity by the Republic of Niger
m) Donations and supplies to the Diplomatic and Consular missions, or any
affiliated organization of the United Nations, imported for their own needs
n) Perishable food products, transported at room temperature or chilled
m) Cinematographic films for public cinemas (35mm) exposed and processed
o) Freshly cut flowers
p) Petroleum products in liquid or gazeous form
q) Goods imported for mining companies
r)Importations which are not paying import taxes must be declared with an
II form
Prohibited
and Restricted Imports
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Prohibited Imports
Drugs/narcotics - Others: to be checked with Cotecna's Liaison Office in Niamey
Restricted Imports
To be checked with Cotecna's Liaison office in Niamey
Poor Governance Leads to Suspension From Agoa - 24/12/09
The Obama administration has decided to suspend trade benefits granted under
the African Growth and Opportunity Act [AGOA] for Niger, citing a lack of
democratic progress, which is a primary criterion for eligibility in the
program. AGOA allows African countries to export a variety of textile, food
and other products to the United States free of tariffs. Niger will be suspended
from the program for a year. [AGOA 24/12/09]
UN Court To Rule On Niger-Burkina Faso Border Row - 22/11/09
Burkina Faso and Niger are to ask the International Court of Justice [ICJ]
to settle their long-running border dispute.
Burkina’s foreign minister Alain Bedouma noted both countries' governments
had agreed to the court's jurisdiction in the
disagreement, allowing them to make a formal application at the court in
The Hague. The two west African countries, both
former French colonies, have had difficulties agreeing their common border,
which is about 650 kilometres [400 miles] long.
[AFP 22/11/09]
Ivorian-Niger Corridor Transit Cargo To Be Boosted By ‘Project
Ferroutage’ - 09/11/09
A Tripartite Technical Committee between Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso
and Niger held its 5th meeting in Abidjan on 02-03/11/09 to discuss ‘Project
Ferroutage’ which is due to be launched early December. The project initiated
by the Autonomous Port of Abidjan [PAA], focusing on the Abidjan-Ouagadougou-Niamey
trade corridor, aims to accelerate trade between the Ivory Coast and Niger.
This will be achieved by combining rail and road options so that both modes
of transport can ‘Piggyback’ off each other – train to truck
/ truck to train. As part of the project a logistics platform is to be set
up in Ouagadougou. Ivorian and Burkinabe customs have been cooperating in order
to prepare for the implementation of this project. [Abidjan net & Fratmat
09/11/09]
Niger-Nigeria 'Blockade' Mystery - 08/11/09
Niger's foreign affairs ministry has confirmed that Nigerian customs officials
are blocking Niger from importing goods. The reason for the interruption of
cross-border trade, which began on 03/11/09, is not known. The Nigeria Customs
Service is preventing the export of fuel, grain and other essential commodities
across the border. People travelling south from Niger into Nigeria along the
1,500km border are not affected.
Nigeria's government has denied that it ordered the border to
be closed and has not commented on the border hold-ups. Although the Federal
Government made no announcement about imposing sanctions on Niger, the action
is coming hot on the heels of that country's suspension from the Economic Community
of West African States [ECOWAS] over President Mamadou Tandja's plan to extend
his rule beyond the constitutionally stipulated two terms. Earlier this year,
Mr Tandja dissolved parliament and had the constitution changed to let him
seek a third term. The land-locked, arid and drought-prone country depends
on its giant neighbour for many of its imports. [ANGOP 08/11/09]
Niger Signs Rotterdam Rules - November 2009
Niger has become the 20th state to sign the Rotterdam Rules, just one month
after the cargo liability regime’s arrival on the maritime regulatory
stage.
ECOWAS Bank Signs Niger Loan For Road Project Despite
Suspension - 28/10/09
Despite suspending Niger’s membership, ECOWAS has agreed to lend US$11.33
million to help fund a road project. The agreement was signed between the ECOWAS
Bank for Investment and Development / Banque d’Investissement et de Développement
de la CEDEAO [EBID/BIDC - www.bidc-ebid.org/en/index.php] and the uranium-producing
nation. The loan will be used to improve the 73km Bella-Gaya road project which
crosses the Niger-Benin border. The Bella-Gaya road is a vital access corridor
to Niger via the Atlantic coast and is the route taken to import most of the
Niger’s goods.
The West African Development Bank [BOAD] and Niger Finance Minister
also signed a CFA8 billion agreement for the construction a new road connecting
Dosso to
Gaya. [RT 28/10/09]
Niger Talks To IFC On Completion Of Dry Port - 16/09/09
Niger's Minister of Economy and Finance, Lamine Zeine, met a delegation from
the International Finance Corporation [IFC] of the World Bank, to exchange
views on the construction of a dry port at Dosso, some 140km east of Niamey.
The focus is to recruit an international operator capable of investing to
complete the project and operate it. The IFC has started the process that
should make it possible to call for tenders in order to choose the operator.
Construction is hoped to start in 2010. [PANA 16/09/2009]
Meeting On Sub-Regional Trade Starts In Niger - July
2009
An international meeting on trade exchanges among members of the Trans-Saharan
Road Liaison Committee [CLRT] was held in Niamey, Niger. The meeting was
attended by Algeria, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Tunisia with a view to
examine trade opportunities.
The project for the construction of the trans-Saharan road was
launched in the early 1970s, following a study financed by the United Nations
Development
Programme [UNDP]. Since then, 3,700kms of road have been constructed, including
500kms over the past 2-years.Out of the total of 4,500kms separating Algiers
from Lagos, only 200kms remain to be constructed - from Arlit [Niger] to
the Algerian border.
Overweight Trucks Stopped As Niger Implements Rule -
May 09
Hundreds of trucks are stopped at Makalondi on the Niger-Burkina Faso border
and some have been stuck there for months. Niger authorities say they are
overweight in violation of regional regulations on axle weight limits adopted
by the Union Economique et Monetaire Ouest Africaine [UEMOA] in 2005.
Transport ministers from across the region met in Burkina Faso April 21-23
to discuss the problem.
The ministers congratulated Niger’s implementation of the regional
regulations, citing a 2008 study by the European Union that showed that fixing
the 1,450
km of paved roads in Burkina Faso studied was costing 30 billion FCFA [about
$US 60 million] more than it should.
Getting heavy trucks off of West Africa’s main roads is seen as critical
to preserving the quality of the routes and saving the more and more limited
levels of aid available for other infrastructure projects. Governments are
spending millions of dollars maintaining and rebuilding roads that should be
able to last a decade or longer. The roads are ripped up in as little as two
years, a 2008 European Union study showed.
“
The state of the roads affects the costs of transport and ultimately is a serious
obstacle to the competitiveness of West African companies,” said the
West Africa Trade Hub’s transport expert, Dr. Andy Cook. “Finding
the right way to get the grossly overweight trucks off the roads is critical.
The best way probably involves a combination of carrots and sticks for transporters
to stop overloading their trucks.”
But enforcing the axle-load rules is driving up the cost of
rice and other goods the trucks carry into Niger and beyond. A trucking company
manager at
Tema port said the cost of moving goods due to the axle-load restriction had
roughly doubled since Niger had implemented the rule, from about $US 64 per
metric ton to about $US 154. “Who is going to carry goods to Niger now?
It costs too much.”
Getting overweight trucks off the roads has proven difficult.
In 2005, Niger implemented similar regulations only to back off after opposition
from transporters.
UEMOA member states resolved to implement the rules on truck weights beginning
Jan. 1, 2009. However, only Niger is fully enforcing the rule, which limits
truck weight to a maximum of 11.5 metric tons per axle and 51 metric tons
gross weight.
The trucks that have been stopped at the Niger-Burkina Faso border crossing
at Makalondi are piled high with all sorts of goods, from cooking oil to
rice to soap to milk powder. The area around the weighbridge has trucks parked
everywhere
and alongside the road. It is crowded with unfortunate drivers who are waiting
to see whether their bosses or owners of the goods they are carrying will
come to pay the excess weight penalty that will free them. The penalty is
$US 120
per excess metric ton.
The costs of hiring additional trucks and to unload overweight
trucks is weighing heavily on the movement of goods. Many of the trucks are
grossly overweight and most of them are coming from Ghana. But, the truckers
complain, their trucks were not weighed when they left the port in Tema. To
overcome this problem, each country in the region needs to implement the same
rules at the same time, the ministers agreed at their meeting
in Burkina Faso. They agreed to implement the rules uniformly beginning May
31, 2009, for countries with weighing equipment and June 30, 2010, for countries
without the equipment. During the three-day workshop, the Burkina Faso government
mediated meetings of officials from Ghana and Niger to try to resolve the current
problem but results, if any, were not announced.
The stopping of the trucks at the border is leading to increases
in prices for the wide variety of products they are carrying. Traders said
before the
rules were implemented a 50 kg bag of rice cost about $US 34; now it costs
$US 50. The prices of sugar and cooking oil have increased by about 40%, the
traders said. But it was unclear whether or to what extent traders were taking
advantage of the situation just to raise prices. “We can’t afford
losses like these,” one trader at Makalondi said. “We’ve
spent a lot of money to get our goods off of these trucks and have had to increase
prices just to keep our business in motion.”While prices of goods have
increased, however, fuel costs have not. Fuel tanker trucks are unaffected
by the axle-load restrictions.
Countries are installing weighbridges like this to control the
weight of trucks using the roads. Overweight trucks are destroying the roads,
experts say. Truckers
are paying thousands of dollars for having overloaded trucks. Nigerienne du
Transit, a shipping organization, estimated that trucking costs had increased
by 78% due to the new axle-load restriction. And that increase is leading businesses
to use different routes and a different port for their goods, they said. Instead
of using the Tema port in Ghana, many are having their goods delivered to Cotonou
in Benin. Benin has more trucks that have not been re-enforced and are consequently
lighter. And the weighbridge at the Benin-Niger border is not currently functioning;
so, the usual bribes suffice to enter the country.
A Tema-based trucking company manager said the loss of business
to companies serving the Ghanaian port was significant and could have a negative
impact
on trucking in the country. “We’ve profited from the extra business
because of the conflict in Cote d’Ivoire and companies have been investing
in newer and better trucks,” he said. “But this could kill us.
It’s a nightmare." Finding solutions to protect the roads without
increasing costs is a challenge, said Cook. “In the short run, consumers
and companies are paying for the cost increases caused by the application of
the regional rules,” he said. “Regional authorities, government
officials and representatives of private sector companies need to collaborate
in order to make West African companies competitive on the world market." [12/05/09
This article originally appeared in the WATH Factor, a monthly newsletter published
by the West Africa Trade Hub, a USAID-funded project promoting export development
and trade facilitation. www.watradehub.com]]
New Truck Weight Legislation - 03/04/09
The Niger Government has introduced a new legislation covering the legal weight
allowed for containers
plying Niger roads. Decree N°014/2005/UEMOA, applied from 01/01/09, states
that all trucks are to be
weighed. Refusal will lead to a fine of EUR 152 [F/CFA 100.000].
Overloaded containers will be liable to a tax of EUR 91 [F CFA 60.000] per
ton in excess. No container [20’ /
40’] should exceed 26 tons. Any excess weight will be unstuffed at the
weighing station under Customs
supervision at the cost of the driver. [OTAL 03/04/09]
Cotonou - Niamey Truck Weight Limit - 17/12/08 All trucks serving Cotonou - Niamey [Niger] have a maximum weight
limit of 25 Tons NET/truck (27 Tons cargo+tare). This new regulation is effective
01/01/09 and penalty fees can be expected if not adhered to.
Weight Limitation On Trucks - 24/11/08
The Niger government are
to review the weight limitations for all trucks. To view the official government
document please click
here.
Transport Sector Program Support US$30 Million Project
IDA Grant -
01/05/08
The World Bank has approved an International Development Association [IDA]
grant of US$30 million
equivalent in support to the Government of Niger’s National Transport
Strategy. The Project supports the
Government of Niger’s efforts to improve the physical access of rural
population to markets and services on
selected unpaved sections of the national road network, and aims to strengthen
the institutional framework,
management and implementation of road maintenance in Niger. [IDA 01/05/08]
Niger Sets Up National Agency For Quality Control -
23/11/07
The Nigerien government has set up a National Agency for Compliance Inspection
[AVCN] in a bid to control the quality of imported and local products.
The agency aims to prevent the importation of products that don’t
conform to standards, fraudulent practices, and counterfeited or substandard
products.
[APA 23/11/07]
Niger / Nigeria To Develop Inter-Border Road Network -
13/11/07
Niger and Nigeria have expressed willingness to collaborate on the construction
and rehabilitation of road networks linking both countries, to boost trade.
Negotiations are being made by Nigerian Minister of Transport, Diezeani
Alison-Madueke and Niger's Minister of Equipment, Alhaji Damuni Haruna.[TD
13/11/07]
Niger to Develop Inter-Border Road Network -
13/11/07
Nigeria and Niger Republic have expressed willingness to collaborate on the
construction and rehabilitation of road networks linking both countries,
to boost trade and economic ties.
This was made known during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Transport, Mrs
Diezeani Alison-Madueke, by Niger's Minister of Equipment, Alhaji Damuni Haruna.
Niger shares a common boundary with Nigeria from the North with a transportation
link that is almost 100 per cent on land.
Niger Sees 4.1% Economic Growth In 2008 - 06/10/07
Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, expects growth in the mining sector
to boost its economy by 4.1% in 2008, despite a rebel uprising that has turned
its uranium-rich north into a military zone. Despite the unrest, the government
aims to more than double the country's output of uranium within the next four
years as new Chinese- and French-run mines come on line. [Reuters 06/10/07]
Contacts and Links
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Conseil Nigerien des Utilisateurs des Transports (CNUT)
Niger implements a Bordereau de suivi de cargaison [BSC] / cargo tracking note
issued by the representatives of the Conseil Nigerien des Utilisateurs des
Transports (CNUT) at ports of loading.
Rue de Libye
BP 11048
Niamey
Tel: (+227) 20732187 / 20735185
Fax: (+227) 20733209
E-mail: cnut-dot@intnet.ne / cnut-dg@intnet.ne
The information given in this document has been
given in good faith and believed to be correct at the time of writing. Please
verify these facts with other relevant sources before using this as the basis
of any action taken as we regret we cannot accept liability for an consequences
due to inaccuracies in this information.
"THE CARRIER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY MISSING OR INCORRECT
IDR/CRI NUMBERS AND THE RESPONSIBILITY REMAINS WITH THE MERCHANT. ANY FINES/
PENALTIES LEVIED AGAINST THE CARRIER ARE FOR THE MERCHANT'S ACCOUNT."
