Business

Thursday August 13, 2009

Miti takes measures to ease clearance at ports

By FINTAN NG


KUALA LUMPUR: The International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) will allow the clearance of non-critical steel and iron ore products, including bolts, nuts and screws, at the country’s major Customs checkpoints effective immediately without any formalities.

Miti secretary-general Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat said at a media briefing cum meeting with the Airfreight Forwarders Association of Malaysia (AFAM) and other industry and trade representatives yesterday that besides this measure, critical steel and iron ore products would be given pre-clearance.

Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Mamat... 'Things will go back to normal when the problems are ironed out'

He said this was done to ease any teething problems resulting from the new ruling requiring such products to have certificates of approval (COAs) or letters of exemption from either the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) for the construction sector and Sirim Bhd for the non-construction sectors.

Abdul Rahman said the problems encountered at the country’s points of entry were teething problems that should be ironed out over the next few weeks.

“We’re only in the 12th day of implementation (of the COA). Things will go back to normal when the problems are ironed out as we don’t know the workload until they (importers) declare, so we have to ensure that whatever flexibilities we allow will be effective and beneficial,” he said, adding that companies importing critical steel and iron ore products would have to get them tested and approved by Sirim or CIDB within one week of the cargo arriving at the ports.

On Monday, AFAM issued a letter to Miti urging it to immediately withdraw the implementation of the new ruling, which became effective Aug 1, to ease the movement of goods.

Abdul Rahman said details regarding what were critical and non-critical items and how to identify them via a fine-tuned coding system would be reviewed together with industry and trade representatives.

In a StarBiz report yesterday, AFAM said bolts, nuts and screws had been left stranded at entry points as Customs was unable to clear these shipments without approval from Sirim and CIDB.

“We’re monitoring on a daily basis the amount of steel and iron ore products stuck at the ports,” Abdul Rahman said, adding that Miti appreciated the feedback on the new ruling.

He said Miti would also look into further decentralising Sirim’s inspection operations, which currently can be carried out only by officials from the Shah Alam headquarters.

“The Government will also look into online applications for the COAs,” Abdul Rahman said.

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