The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has disclosed to the general public that electronic NAFDAC licenses have been incorporated in the Nigeria Single Window for Trade for the processing of import transactions.
This means that importers, Customs licensed agents, port stakeholders, authorised dealer bank and so on can now get their licenses in electronic formats on the Nigerian Single Window for Trade portal for their import transactions to be processed. The agency announced that the licenses will go live on the 9th of September 2019.
“The Go-Live date has therefore been slated for 9th September 2019. NAFDAC import licenses consisting of approvals, certificates, and permits which are now in electronic formats shall be auto verifiable on the NAFDAC Single Window for Trade Portal. As such all NAFDAC licenses will no longer be attached as scanned copies on the Single Window portal for the processing of Form M in import trade.”
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Form M is a document usually completed by all importers who are importing goods into Nigeria. It is a compulsory form that is filled on the trade portal as delegated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in partnership with the Nigeria Customs Service.
NAFDAC added that the electronic license is needed to be implemented for the processing of Form M for NAFDAC regulated products. This is because clients would be required to input their approval reference code stated on their NAFDAC e-licenses.
The Nigeria Single Window Trade is a cross-government portal or website that helps trade facilitation. It offers a single portal for traders, both Nigerian and international, to submit trade documents, track their trade transaction status online and be informed on the up-to-date trade regulatory guidelines.