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16.04.2020

Within the framework of the national response to the COVID-19 crisis, the Niger Customs is still
enforcing its missions at all land and air points of entries. Customs bureaus are functioning
normally, no bureau or post has been closed. In order to ensure continuity of service, the
Directorate General has taken the following measures:

1. Protect Customs staff and users

- establishment of a crisis unit at the Directorate General, involving a medical officer, and
appointment of regional correspondents,

- dissemination of the protection measures and best practices to control the means of
transport and in the relationships with users, to all staff through the electronic and radio
media,

- distribution of disinfectants, masks and gloves, and installation of disinfection stations in the
Customs bureaus and at the Directorate General, disinfection of buildings,

- according to the government general instructions, cancellation of non-critical meetings and
missions, and implementation of staff shifts to limit the number of officials present at the
same time in the bureaus.

2. Support economic actors

- facilitation of payment,

- suspension of penalties for payment delays.

3. Facilitate and encourage the imports of sanitary goods
- taxes and duties exemption for equipments and products used to fight against the epidemia,
as listed by the WCO Secretariat.

4. Implementation of a weekly monitoring
The Niger Customs is making use of the data collected by its clearance IT system that is
implemented on the whole territory, to ensure a weekly monitoring of the crisis impact. A series
of indicators has been set up to monitor:

- the imported volumes of necessities to alert the government on risks of shortages and prices
increases,

- the revenue collected and the fiscal impact of the trade flows slowdown between Niger and
its major partners,

- the structure of imports according to the countries of origin, to assess the potential impacts
on the importers’ logistics chains and anticipate the Customs response,

- the exemptions of sanitary products and equipments.

These indicators are shared, weekly, with the Ministry of Finance.

Forthcoming