Right Balance between Compliance and Trade Facilitation
June 2, 2022
To curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), there are a number of international conventions and treaties enacted with their own particular focus, for example to prohibit the use of nuclear weapons. To maintain the global supply chain’s integrity, Singapore as one of the key trading hub has put in place set of controls over strategic goods that include certain “dual-use” goods. The implementation of the Strategic Goods (Control) Act (SGCA) Act aims to regulate exports, re-exports, transshipment, brokering and all the other forms of transfers of strategic goods and related technology. Traders should aware that it is an offence to export the prescribed strategic goods without the requisite permits.
Enforcement Actions Taken by Singapore Customs
Singapore Customs conducts random inspection to enforce regulations and ensure traders’ compliance to strategic goods controls and its applicable laws. In the latest InSYNC Magazine, Issue 63, Singapore Customs has revealed that a company and its directors were found guilty for exporting strategic goods without a permit. Between 2015 and 2018, the company had failed to apply for a strategic goods permit before exporting strategic goods such as electro-optical image acquisition modules, hyperspectral analysis bench and so on. Consequently, the company was liable to pay a fine of S$140,000 in September 2021 for the violation of Singapore’s export regulations. Meanwhile, the Singaporean man who was the director of the company was liable to pay a fine of S$120,000 for submitting false declarations of the country of origin of goods when applying for the permit with Singapore Customs.
Conclusion
Overall, it is important for traders to put in place effective control to ensure that the information provided to declaring agents for onward submission to Singapore Customs are accurate and correct. To be a responsible trader in Singapore, a trading company should develop a systematic process to help their employees determine if the goods and technology are controlled under SGCA which require them to apply for a permit. To facilitate the trade procedures, Singapore Customs has introduced TradeFIRST assessment framework which allows traders who achieve ‘Enhanced’ band to hold a bulk permit that helps improve their supply chain turnaround.
How we can help
In Alder, we provide consultancy services to help traders with the application of TradeFIRST and Singapore Customs Schemes, including:
- Provide TradeFirst Assessment Support
- Customs Licence/ Scheme Application Support (e.g. STS Bulk Permit Application, Zero-GST Warehouse Scheme Application etc.)
- Conduct Customs Procedures Training and Functional Training
- Review the Internal Compliance Programme (ICP) to close the compliance gap
Reference Materials
InSYNC (2022). ‘Scaling up Customs digital transformation through use of data’, Issue 63. Available at: https://www.customs.gov.sg/files/news-and-media/2022-05-13-Issue63.pdf
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