BY DESTINY JOHNSON
Journal Staff Writer

The Bahamas Customs Department has seen a 90 percent increase in customs revenue
at the Lynden Pindling Airport (LPIA) since the introduction of the customs Exempt
App.
Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance Simon Wilson made the announcement
at the Customs Induction Ceremony Monday morning.
The Exempt App has done away with the manual declaration process for Bahamians
re-entering the country and was made mandatory in June of this year.
Following the announcement of the app, many Bahamians complained about the
usability of the app for the elderly and those without smartphones, Mr. Simon Wilson
said, as the Customs Department has addressed those issues.
“Since the app has been introduced, we have over 100,000 persons who have
downloaded the user app successfully. Now, I think originally, there was some issues
with persons who don’t have a smartphone, elderly persons, so forth. I think we
resolved those issues, and we managed those issues. But the app itself is a success,”
Mr. Wilson said.
“You know, the app was developed by a local Bahamian company. I think it’s one of
our successes.”
Besides customs declarations, travelers can also secure their passport digitally on the
app, calculate duty, track past exemptions, create a shopping list for C17 forms, track
flights, and search thousands of customs duty rates and tariffs.
Although the app is deemed a success, Mr. Wilson said there is still room for
improvement.
“The app has to keep improving. We want to do more. One of the things we want to
do is we call it a simplified declaration, which makes it easier for importers to be able
to own declaration as opposed to going to a broker,” he said.
“So, for example, if you buy a car, you should be able to go online and put
information in and boom, pay customs, if you’re doing small transactions, without
going to a broker to say, I need your help for a car, so forth.

“So, we are working on a simplified declaration, which [will] make it a lot easier for
individuals to import goods.”

While Mr. Wilson gave no timeline for this upgrade, he said he has hopes that it will
be implemented soon.