Customs dept tightening goods declaration procedure in Labuan next month

LABUAN: Beginning next month, the Customs Department will fully enforce the declaration procedure on goods sent from the Sabah mainland to the duty-free-island.
The existing procedure has not been fully enforced at the Menumbok customs terminal, making it difficult for the Labuan customs to apply the procedure or related export check.
Labuan customs senior assistant director Mirani Majidi said there was a need for customs-appointed forwarding agents to enable goods to be sent to the duty-free-island.
"Client registration in the customs system is not a new procedure or new restriction but has long been implemented in Labuan. Apparently, the implementation is slightly delayed at the Menumbok customs terminal," she told Bernama today.
A customs officer at the Labuan ferry terminal when contacted said goods bound for the duty-free-island with no customs declaration from Menumbok customs would be withheld until the compound was settled.
He said appointed forwarding agents must declare the goods using Form 2 or Form 3 to facilitate its movement.
A transporter for Labuan-Sabah-Labuan, Chew Chin Hui said the procedure was not a burden as there was only a need to appoint customs-registered forwarding agents.
"We were told the procedure will be fully enforced beginning next month as it had not been implemented in the Menumbok customs for quite sometimes," he added.
He said the newly-enforced procedure caused over 10 trucks transporting cooking oil to the duty-free-island here to be stranded in Menumbok early this month as the owners of the goods had not appointed forwarding agents to declare their goods.
Following the 'technical' issue, thousands of consumers on the island experienced shortage of cooking oil. — Bernama