RECENT NSW INITIATIVES IN MALAYSIA

Introduction

The use of technology for improvements in trade processes has long been implemented in Malaysia and achieved significant milestone with the launching of the country's National Single Window (NSW) portal on 4 September 2012.

Malaysia's NSW, similar to NSW initiatives in the region and globally, aims to simplify custom's clearance procedures, facilitate the electronic exchange of trade-related data, reducing the cost of doing business as well as enhancing trade efficiency and national competitiveness.

myTRADELINK, the country's NSW portal that provides a single point of referral for all related parties in the trade community to exchange documents required to fulfil regulatory trade processes for import, export or transit - anytime, anywhere via the Internet.

There are six (6) services provided by Malaysia's NSW through myTRADELINK:

1)     e-Preferential Certificate of Origin (e-PCO):

A Preferential Certificate of Origin (PCO) is a document attesting that goods in a particular shipment are of a certain origin. This certificate is required by a country's customs authority in deciding whether the imports should benefit from preferential treatment in accordance with special trading areas or customs unions.

e-PCO is currently implemented at all MITI offices nationwide and has 14 schemes offered online to manufactures and exporters.

e-PCO is a web-based Certificate of Origin application and approval system whereby it is an online document that certifies the country of origin of a product. This is to satisfy customs or trade requirements and also can be used as a supporting document for the issuance of a corresponding Certificate of Origin by other authorised parties.

Its other functions include:

• Online application of Cost Analysis and Certificate of Origin forms
• Online approval by authorised party e.g. Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI)
• Allows online enquiry of application status

ePCO Initiative
The NSW landscape in Malaysia has been experiencing continuous progress since its inception with the aim to support the country's equally vibrant trade community.

Manual application of Certificate of Origin (CO) has been phased out from 1 January 2013, and all applications of CO must now apply online via the ePCO service. The ePCO service has been upgraded with a new platform that offers users benefits such as:

• Easier to use;
• Faster to process; and
• Smoother transactions to enjoy

A total of three schemes – MAFTA, MICECA and MCFTA - are currently offered on the new ePCO platform with the rest of the schemes coming on board later this year. (Note: MAFTA is Malaysia Australia Free Trade Agreement; MICECA is Malaysia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement; and MCFTA is Malaysia-Chile Free Trade Agreement).

E-Logistics and E-Transport

2)     e-Manifest

Electronic Manifest (eManifest) Initiative

Key initiatives this year also include an expansion in the implementation of eManifest, Malaysia's NSW service that allows shippers and shipping agents to submit vessel and cargo manifests to the respective authorities, covering more ports throughout the country including those located in East Malaysia comprising states of Sabah and Sarawak.

Briefly, eManifest or the Electronic Manifest System is one of the key component of Malaysia's National Single Window initiative. It is a comprehensive system for port users such as Principal Shipping Agents (PSA), Shipping Agents (SA), Freight Forwarders (FF) to submit cargo manifest and vessel arrival information to the respective authorities for validation and approval via internet.

It also allows port users to submit their application for the Ship Call Number (SCN) and the ship manifests to the respective authorities. The respective authorities can then validate and verify all information via online.

Besides providing information to the authorities, eManifest helps to save time by making available vital information such as location codes, departure of vessels and time of arrival and cargo information faster and hassle free.

eManifest was established with the key objectives to:

• Reduce the cost of trade documentation;
• Reduce delays in turnaround time for trade documentation; and
• Increase authorities' processing efficiencies with a streamlined process flow.

The Benefits of eManifest
With eManifest, port users no longer needs to physically deal with manual submission of manifests. The system allows users to submit cargo manifest and vessel information to respective authorities online; assign berth numbers and keep track of their cargos. Even port authorities can validate information efficiently by streaming data via eManifest.

More benefits of eManifest include:

• Easy access via the Internet;
• Faster response time through smooth cargo data transfer;
• Convenience of retrieving data when required; and
• Cohesive and single-filing to implementing ports.

eManifest Implementation Status
The eManifest system has been in operations and serving the Malaysia trading community since 2007. To date, eManifest is available in 11 (eleven) ports in Malaysia and handles approximately 18,000 transactions daily, amounting to more than 6 million transactions a year. The eManifest system is subscribed by more than 500 companies nationwide.

As a result of relentless efforts by the NSW authorities, particularly in 2012 and 2013, to include more ports to the eManifest system, eManifest is currently available in the following ports in Malaysia.

1. 1.Northport (Port Klang, Selangor)
2. 2.Westport (Port Klang, Selangor)
3. 3.North Butterworth Container Terminal (Penang)
4. 4.Butterworth Wharves Container Terminal (Penang)
5. 5.Kuantan Port (Kuantan, Pahang)
6. 6.Kemaman Port Consortium (Kemaman, Terengganu)
7. 7.Tg. Beruas Port (Malacca)
8. 8.Tg. Lembung Port (Langkawi, Kedah)
9. 9.Kemaman Supply Base (Kemaman, Terengganu)
10. 10.Lumut Port (Lumut, Perak)
11. 11.Labuan Port (Federal Territory of Labuan)

The implementation of eManifest in 2013 has been on the rise with 12 (twelve) more ports to come on board scheduled by the end of Quarter 2, and expected to benefit approximately 350 new companies. The 12 (twelve) ports are:

1. 1.Pending Port (Kuching, Sarawak)
2. 2.Senari Port (Kuching, Sarawak)
3. 3.Rajang Port (Sibu Sarawak)
4. 4.Tanjung Manis Integrated Port (Sarikei, Sarawak)
5. 5.Bintulu Port (Bintulu, Sarawak)
6. 6.Miri Port (Miri, Sarawak)
7. 7.Sepangar Bay Port (Kota Kinabalu Sabah)
8. 8.Kota Kinabalu Port (Kota Kinabalu, Sabah)
9. 9.Sandakan Port (Sandakan, Sabah)
10. 10.Tawau Port (Tawau, Sabah)
11. 11.Lahad Datu Port (Lahad Datu, Sabah)
12. 12.Tanjung Langsat Port (Johor)

The stakeholders of eManifest include:

Challenges in Implementing eManifest
Realising substantial benefits to be gained from the implementation of eManifest, Malaysia has remained focused on its implementation as well as addressing challenges faced in undertaking the implementation.

Continuous efforts are made to ensure:

• active involvement of all stakeholder groups from conceptualisation till development and implementation stage;
• training sessions are consistently held to help raise awareness of the NSW concept, challenges, options, costs and benefits to all stakeholders;
• a detailed plan was constructed to ensure that project priorities and goals are adequately set and implemented; and
• clear implementation guidelines were also set including mutual agreements on its standards and technology.

Moving Forward
eManifest has helped in the transformation from previously using paper-based or proprietary system-based operations to a Web-based environment. It also drive Malaysia towards a more efficient and paper-less trading community thus increasing the country's attractiveness as a trading hub.

Continuous efforts will be undertake to bring all ports to the eManifest system including provate jetties under the purview of Malaysian Customs. This will be a challenging task to the authorities and cooperation from all relevant parties is much needed to ensure the success of this initiative.

E-Customs (Customs Declaration)

3)     e-Declare

eDeclare is an electronic application that allows users to prepare and submit Customs related documentation to Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD). These covers the importation, exportation, transhipment, domestic movement between east and west Malaysia, bonded movement and partial release of cargo from Customs' control.

About 166 out of 167 Customs station are currently implementing eDeclare nationwide.

Malaysian Government is currently engaging on a new project to improve their Customs transformation initiative in order to realise its vision to be a world class Customs administration by the year 2015. This will result in catering the latest development on global trading trend as well as improving declaration via Self-Assessment mechanism, to balance both trade facilitation and compliance in line with the NSW and ASW aspiration. This project is called uCustoms (with "ubiquitous" features). Added characteristics will also include Customs Strategic Centers such as the National Targeting Center (NTC), National Clearance Center (NCC) and also Customs Examination Area (CEA) to support self-assessment implementation and centralization of clearance processes.

uCustoms will be built based on combination and collaboration of multiple proven, world-class technological solutions which is further compliment by Business Process Reengineering (BPR) lead by Subject Matter Expertise (SME) and relevant process owners. These solutions are thus designed to be leading edge in terms of technologies and usability.

To achieve the above aspirations, the salient features requested are an end to end solution with interfacing and integration with all players in the trading community, an integrated back-end application that supports very complex requirements for Customs clearance, compliance to international standards and recommendations, a sound risk management system that assist Customs Officers in making decisions and usage of very stringent security and access rights.

E-Licenses, Certificates, Permits, and other forms

4)     e-Permit

e-Permit is an electronic permit application system to apply for permits and approval from multiple Permit Issuing Agencies (PIA).There are currently 26 agencies participating in ePermit and a total of 19 of these agencies are currently on paperless implementation.

5)     e-PermitSTA

e-PermitSTA is an electronic permit application for products fall under Strategic Trade Act 2010.
e-PermitSTA incorporated digital signature in the application to ensure data security. The agencies involved are:

1. 1.Strategic Trade Secretariat, MITI
2. 2.Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB)
3. 3.Malaysia Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC)
4. 4.Pharmaceutical Services Division, Ministry of Health

E-Payment

6)     e-Payment

e-Payment is an Online payment facility that allows users to prepare and submit duty payment to RMCD.

There are currently 3 modes of e-Payment available. These are Electronic Fund Transfer, DutyNet and Financial Services Payment Gateway (FSPG). There are currently 8 local banks participating in this initiative.

National Trade Repository
National Trade Repository (NTR) is a legally binding repository of all public regulations, trade agreements, tariffs and nontariff measures for goods crossing national borders for import, export, or transit.

The information currently available via http://www.mytradelink.gov.my, under Trade Repository Menu are the information related to Customs, Tariff Code, import/export procedures, the agencies currently on board in the NSW initiative, information on ports as well as statistical data on the transaction of NSW.

The development of National Trade Repository (NTR) is currently on-going and NSW is engaging with all stakeholders to provide more comprehensive information available in the NTR portal.

NSW Registration & Accreditation
All users who wish to access to the NSW services are to register with the NSW service provider via online registration. Approval will be granted upon submission of administrative documentations.

NSW service provider is currently ISO/IEC 27001:2005 certified.

Track & Trace Capability
The system is capable of tracking application status.

NSW Statistical Management
The following are the statistical data that can be generated:

1. 1.Number of users
2. 2.Number of transactions
3. 3.System's availability

For the Importer/Exporter:

• Registration /Accreditation with PNSW
• Creation and validation of application
• Submission to relevant agency
• Notification of status
• Electronic payment of agency fee

For the Agency User:

• Notification of the receipt of an application
• Receive and process the application
• Receive payment
• Recommend approval/Rejection
• Notify Importer/Exporter
• Approval
• Make license, permit or clearance available to Customs

The current PNSW project, which is the initial phase of the overall NSW program in the Philippines, provides the following functionalities:

• Registration of importers/exporters with the NSW via the internet
• Application for and issuance of the necessary permits, licenses and clearances to support the import and export processes
• NSW Mobile which allows access to the system by registered BlackBerry users
• Digital Signatures for security of documents
• Content Management which allows users to design and manage their documents
• NSW link to Customs Operational System helps alleviates the occurrence of fake permits, clearances and licenses in the goods clearance process
• e-Payment facility for traders to pay agency fees (if any)
• Executive dashboard provides real time reporting on productivity and business performance measurements
• VOIP technology in the agencies which equips them with a faster and more reliable communication infrastructure

Thailand National Single Window is the facilitator to enable electronic data and information sharing and integration between government to government partnerships (G2G), government to business partnerships (G2B) and business to business partnerships (B2B) for import, export and logistics. It also facilitates international cross-border data and information sharing between government and business sectors in Thailand and other countries. National Single Window system enables a single submission of electronic document by the trader such as a single data preparation and submission of customs declaration and duty payment for customs release and clearance.

Core components of Thailand National Single Window comprise the following functionalities:

• National gateways for electronic documents exchanged among 36 government agencies and business communities in relation to import, export and logistics;
• National standard data set service on import and export for government agencies and trading communities ;
• Integrated Paperless Registration system and security service accessed by relevant parties for all member users who would like to access various national single application services ;
• Asingle window entry point for member users to directly access various services such as single sign on, data preparation,import and export licenses, electronic payment, track and trace;
• Technical utilities and facilitators including standard conversion, digital signature and data encryption ;
• International cross-border data exchanged facilitator between Thai government authorities and other countries, such as the Customs Department, Live-Stock Department, Department of Agriculture, Department of Foreign Trade, Department of Industrial Work and Thai Chamber of Commerce ;
• International cross-border data exchanged facilitator between Thai businesses and their business partners in oversea ;
• Experimental system available for any new comer who want to learn and try Thailand National Single Window Service ; and
• Help Desk and Call Center available for 24 x 7

At pilot phase, VNSW offers services in following domains:

• Customs procedures for declaration, clearance and release of importation, exportation and transit of goods and conveyances;
• Several permit issuance procedures under authorization of Ministry Industry and Trade.
• Clearance procedure for entry/exit vessels under authorization of Port Authority.
• Storage and exchanging services for electronic document under VNSW.