The Korea Importers Association of Ghana (KIAG) has appealed to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to use his good offices to intervene in developments that have the potential to kill their industry.
They have stated that they have intercepted a draft document from the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA) which proposes two requirements from them that have the potential to kill their industry.
The first suggests that they should fashion the authority with the vehicle identification numbers (VIN) of vehicles they import from Korea before buying these vehicles for importation into Ghana. And the second is that they do not import right-hand-drive vehicles into Ghana, which is a left-hand drive jurisdiction.
They stated that the Korea Importers Association of Ghana (KIAG) are supporters of the Ghana Standards Authority and its good work in the area of the maintenance of standards in the country. They said that they support the thoughts that went into the drafting of the standards and the overall policy rationale behind it. However, as an Association, they believe some paragraphs need a careful reconsideration, failure of which will plunge a section of the public that are into the importation of used vehicles into unimaginable hardship and economic difficulties. Of particular importance are paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Draft Ghana Standards.
“Your Excellency, the… difficulty of the Association is the requirement that the VIN report should be shared with the Ghana Standards Authority before the vehicles are purchased. This is complicated by the fact that there is a vast time difference between Ghana and South Korea (Korea is ahead of Ghana in time by nine hours, which means that as dawn is coming up in Ghana, Koreans are preparing to go into the night) and the period between when our members purchase these vehicles and the time that the GSA comes to office would cause major difficulties. In light of the time differences, it will be difficult to share this report before a purchase could be made since the Authority may be operating or shut depending on a particular time. It is our humble appeal to you to intervene so that the requirement for the VIN report to be shared before purchase is made would be removed since it works to serve as a hurdle that will affect the work of our members thereby plunging a number of us into unemployment,” the members said.
Secondly, they stated that under Paragraph 4.1 titled ‘Requirements for import’, it is provided that “All used vehicles intended for import in any of the following conditions shall not be allowed into the country; (1) Salvaged vehicles with major damages, (2) Originally manufactured right-hand drive vehicles, (3) Over-aged vehicles, (4) Vehicles to be assembled from parts imported as spare parts will not be allowed, and (5) Vehicles without speedometer readings in Kilometer per hour.’
“Your Excellency… there is no verifiable database system in place from which to check if a particular vehicle is right-hand or left-hand as made by the manufacturer. Presently, South Korea where we purchase all our vehicles does not have a formidable database system to help importers verify the status of vehicles purchased there. This difficulty has been compounded by the fact that the system operative in South Korea is an open one where various garages sell these cars and this makes it difficult for them to organize a database to notify buyers/importers as to whether the vehicles were manufactured as right-hand drive or otherwise. The absence of a strong database system in South Korea is not the fault of the members of the Korea Importers Association of Ghana…This will collapse our business. We are, therefore, appealing to you to use your good office to help us so that these paragraphs would be removed from the document,” they stated.
BENCHMARK VALUE
They also appealed to His Excellency cause the removal of the Benchmark value by the government of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
“Owing to the removal of the Benchmark value, the price of clearing products has increased and this has resulted in higher prices for our products on the market. And as a result, many Ghanaians are not patronizing our products because of the price hikes and this has visited untold hardship on our families and businesses. We would like to appeal to His Excellency to work on reversing this to bolster the economy and businesses in the country.
“Your Excellency, as we noted earlier, we remain loyal; and supporters of this administration which is doing a lot of good things across the country. And as part of the good things across the country. And as part of the good works of His Excellency, we would like you to intervene to get our concerns addressed for us…
“We are much aware of the good works of His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo in this country and across the continent and how he is using refined policies to shape the economy of Ghana for the better. We want to convey the unwavering support of the Association to the government of His Excellency and the many life-transforming policies being implemented across the country,” they stated.
This was contained in a petition to the Chief Of Staff, Jubilee House, Accra, Republic of Ghana. It was titled “Petition on the Newly Drafted Ghana Standards by the Ghana Standards Authority on Imported Used Vehicles Numbered DGs 04510:2022”.
It was signed by the General Secretary of, the Korea Importers Association of Ghana.
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