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Guam hearing spotlights plan to adopt UN trade customs system to modernize ports and recover lost revenue
Summary
Agency witnesses urged passage of Bill 234-38 to adopt UNCTAD's ASYCUDA customs-management platform, citing improved revenue capture, public-health screening and border security; estimated upfront cost is roughly $2 million, with a 24'2-month implementation timeline and an annual maintenance estimate of about $150,000. No committee vote was taken.
A legislative hearing on Bill 234-38 opened with the public auditor and agency leaders urging the Guam Legislature to authorize adoption of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's automated customs system, ASYCUDA, to replace Guam's largely paper-based customs operations.
Enciatus Masi, director of the Guam Customs and Quarantine Agency, testified the measure would give CQA clear authority to implement ASYCUDA, enter necessary intergovernmental agreements with UNCTAD and modernize customs processes. "This bill positions Guam for the future," Masi said, urging the legislature to pass the measure and noting the system is used in more than 100 countries.
John Rick Mendiola, customs officer supervisor, described the operational strain of manual entry, saying customs still processes documentation attached to roughly 900 sea containers and 200 tons of air freight weekly. "We still do it" by hand, Mendiola said, and he told senators that automation would improve risk assessment, fraud detection and the government's ability to reconcile revenue.
Matthew Santos, deputy director of the Bureau of Statistics and Plans, traced the multi-year…
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