Cameroon’s finance ministry has launched a new technology-driven system to revive mobile phone tax collection, after earlier efforts collapsed under public resistance.
A 2022 attempt to tax imported phones and other electronic equipment failed because the regulation effectively moved the burden onto end users if importers refused to pay.
Authorities had also planned to rely on mobile network providers to collect the fee once a device was connected to their networks, but this proved difficult to implement and widely unpopular.
The new framework, which will go into effect on April 1, intends to address those problems by shifting responsibility directly to importers while digitising the entire process.
Under the system, devices are verified through a centralised platform — the Cameroon Customs Information System — which links import records, device identification numbers and network activation data.
Only phones that have cleared customs duties electronically, are in roaming mode, or have benefited from a tax amnesty will be allowed to connect to local networks.
Finance Minister Louis Paul Motaze said the reform marks a shift from policy-led enforcement to automated compliance, designed to curb evasion in a market dominated by prepaid users and informal handset imports.
“It constitutes a digitalised solution for the collection of duties and taxes, enabling the Customs Administration to reduce the loss of public revenue, promote tax compliance and strengthen the fight against digital crime,” he said.
While officials are optimistic, analysts say public acceptance will hinge on robust data protection safeguards and greater transparency in how revenues are used.
The initiative is being closely watched as a test case for wider digital tax reforms, as governments increasingly turn to technology to expand tax bases without raising rates.
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