Story ID: 
Bahamas Delays Indefinitely New Customs Protocol
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: The Bahamas had plans to apply its Click2Clear customs program to private pilots beginning May 30, but agreed to delay at the request of AOPA.
Word Count: 220
Following a request by AOPA, the Bahamanian government has delayed indefinitely a new online customs clearance requirement that the association said presented "technical issues" for pilots. The new protocol was scheduled to go into effect on May 30, but AOPA president Mark Baker asked the Office of the Director-General for The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investment, and Aviation to delay the program at least until the end of March 2023.

“This pause will allow the necessary time to obtain feedback from impacted stakeholders to make any necessary improvements to the Click2Clear initiative, provide education and training on any new customs process, and to implement the initiative during a lower air traffic period,” Baker said.

While the program appears to have been in existence since 2018 for cargo operations, AOPA noted it wasn’t aware of information on the program on the government website. “Although Click2Clear might be appropriate for other users…I have been informed by others suggesting that it is very tedious, cumbersome, and unintuitive,” he said, adding pilots should have the opportunity to vet the program to avoid confusion.

In response, Paul Monroe, acting comptroller of Bahama Customs, agreed to delay the program “pending further discussion by customs, government officials, and programmers to address reasonable concerns expressed by stakeholders,” AOPA said.