(Business in Cameroon) - The Directorate General of Customs (DGD) is in talks with management consultant  TransAtlantic for the acquisition of mobile scanners to enhance customs inspections. This was revealed, on August 16, 2023, at the end of a meeting at the DGD headquarters in Yaoundé.  According to a report by the customs communication services, the meeting identified the source of funding and the appropriate mechanisms for the acquisition of these mobile scanners. However, no precise information was given on those points. The only thing we know is that TransAtlantic presented the Z Backscatter Van Scanner Mobile model at the meeting. This advanced technology is expected to help combat illegal trade and overall insecurity at the country's borders and inside the country.  

Indeed, the planned acquisition comes amid the persistence of smuggling and counterfeiting, due to ineffective border controls. According to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Handicrafts (Ccima), these two phenomena cost the State nearly CFAF200 billion FCFA in lost tax revenue every year. The mobile scanners will have a dual purpose. First, it will reinforce the verification of goods at customs checkpoints. It will also enable the DGD to collect revenue in proportion to the value of the goods inspected in a context where public authorities are multiplying initiatives to replenish state coffers, which have been strained by a challenging socioeconomic context and security expenditures.  

On November 30, 2019, TransAtlantic signed a concession contract with the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) for the operation and maintenance of scanners at the deep seaport of Kribi.  At the Port of Douala, the operation and maintenance of those scanners are carried out by SGS,  which signed a public-private partnership contract with the State of Cameroon on March 2, 2015. This partnership has enabled the Douala Port platform to acquire four fixed scanners, three of which are dedicated to import operations and one to export operations.

Frédéric Nonos