ISSUE 61 SINGAPORE CUSTOMS MAGAZINE p.01 Virtual meetings with other Customs administrations on initiatives to facilitate trade FEATURES SPOTLIGHT NEWS Singapore’s Electronic Transactions When buying duty-unpaid Digital Trade Services Act amended to provide legal validity cigarettes comes with a hefty on the Networked to electronic Bills of Lading and other price tag… Think twice! Trade Platform Electronic Transferable Records FEATURES CONTENTS Virtual meetings with other EDITORS’ FEATURES Customs administrations on 01 Virtual meetings with other Customs NOTE administrations on initiatives to facilitate trade initiatives to facilitate trade 02 Singapore’s Electronic Transactions Act amended With the emergence of several clusters to provide legal validity to electronic Bills of Lading of COVID-19 infections in recent months, and other Electronic Transferable Records Singapore went into Phase 2 (Heightened Amidst COVID-19, Customs administrations around the world play an important role in 06 Case files: Enforcement Highlights Alert) in May 2021, and adopted a calibrated facilitating the international movement of goods, especially essential supplies. The Customs reopening to Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) community also has a role to play in promoting economic recovery through trade facilitation. a month later. Through participation in meetings and discussions, Singapore Customs works closely with its SPOTLIGHT regional counterparts to carry out its responsibilities in this regard. Amidst COVID-19, a key role of Customs 04 When buying duty-unpaid cigarettes comes with a administrations worldwide is to promote hefty price tag… Think twice! economic recovery through trade facilitation. Find out more about Singapore Customs’ 22nd WCO RHCA Singapore Customs’ Deputy Director-General, Mr efforts in this area on the next page. Lim Teck Leong, and Director of International Customs Singapore Customs’ Director-General, Mr Ho Chee NEWS and Inter-institution, Mr R. Syarif Hidayat, exchanged Pong, attended the World Customs Organisation (WCO) views on promoting post-COVID-19 economic recovery The pandemic has also hastened the push nd 07 Digital Trade Services on the Networked towards digitalisation. 22 Virtual Regional Heads of Customs Administrations through trade digitalisation and strengthening Trade Platform (RHCA) Conference held on 6 and 7 April 2021. collaboration between the two agencies to combat illicit activities in the region. In March 2021, Singapore’s Electronic At the conference, Heads of Customs administrations 07 Safeguard against fraud with Trader Transactions Act was amended to provide Notification Service of the Asia Pacific Region endorsed the Regional legal validity to electronic Bills of Lading Strategic Plan for 2020 to 2022, and explored new 08 Industry outreach on trade facilitation initiatives and other Electronic Transferable Records. initiatives to enhance dialogue between Customs Virtual coffee chat among ASEAN Customs, Read more on pages 2 and 3, in a guest administrations and the private sector. ABF and WCO article by the Infocomm Media Development WCO members also discussed measures to facilitate Singapore Customs organised an informal chat DO YOU KNOW? Authority, and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. the movement of medical supplies and COVID-19 among ASEAN Customs, Australian Border Force 09 GST extended to low-value goods from 1 January 2023 vaccines, and trade facilitation initiatives such as (ABF), and WCO on 30 March 2021, to reaffirm the With the Digital Trade Services on the digitalisation of customs procedures, to help businesses strong ties between leaders of the various Customs Networked Trade Platform (NTP), traders recover from the pandemic by reducing business costs. administrations, and to discuss evolving issues arising TRAINING CALENDAR can also explore another way of digitally from the COVID-19 pandemic. connecting and exchanging data with The leaders discussed ways to facilitate the 10 Training Calendar st service providers on the NTP. More details Customs Cooperation under the 1 Indonesia- movement of COVID-19 vaccines in the region, tackle on page 7. Singapore Finance Dialogue enforcement challenges and speed up economic recovery through trade facilitation. On the enforcement front, Singapore At the inaugural Finance Dialogue between Indonesia Customs continues to keep up its operations and Singapore on 8 April 2021, Singapore Customs against illicit duty-unpaid cigarette activities. and the Indonesia Directorate General of Customs and Our inSYNC reporter tagged along a Excise jointly updated on the bilateral cooperation few of such operations in April 2021, and between the two Customs administrations and future reveals what happened behind the scenes areas for collaboration. (pages 4 and 5). We hope you enjoy reading this issue of inSYNC, and stay safe. To read, download or subscribe to inSYNC, please visit www.customs.gov.sg. Please let us know what you think of inSYNC. We welcome your ideas on what you would like Singapore Customs’ Director-General, Mr Ho Chee Pong (top left), to see and how we can do better. Write in to the Editor at [email protected]. Attendees for the inaugural Finance Dialogue organised by Ministry with leaders of other Customs administrations at the virtual coffee of Finance, Singapore, and the Indonesian Ministry of Finance. chat session. inSYNC is a publication of Singapore Customs. Copyright of the materials contained in this publication belongs to Singapore Customs. Nothing in here shall be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written consent of Singapore Customs. All rights reserved. All information is correct at time of publication. TAN XIAN LIN AND ISABEL CHIA fb.com/SingaporeCustoms Design by Oxygen Studio Designs Pte Ltd Editors INSYNC 1 FEATURES FEATURES with Olam, a food and agri-business supplier, for a The trial showed that there were significant time live shipment of processed cashew from Qui Nhon savings in the BL documentation process from an Singapore’s Electronic in Vietnam to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, via average of six to 10 days when using a hardcopy to less transshipment at Singapore. than 24 hours when using an eBL. It also demonstrated In this trial, the shipper and the consignee used that cross-platform interoperability could be achieved Transactions Act amended two different platforms, i.e. the Singapore-based as eBL issued by one platform could be verified and #dltledgers’ blockchain platform and the Netherlands- processed by another digital trade platform. This to provide legal validity to electronic based NaviPorta platform to perform the title transfer trial was facilitated by MPA, IMDA, with technology transaction and thereafter surrender of the eBL issued by platforms provided by #dltedgers from Singapore and ONE. The title transfer and surrender capability on both NaviPorta from BlockLab, a subsidiary of the Port of Bills of Lading and other Electronic platforms were enabled by the TradeTrust digital utility. Rotterdam Authority. Transferable Records By Infocomm Media Development Authority, eBL Trials using TradeTrust and Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore However, the lack of standards and interoperability of eBLs across different industry players in the ecosystem was one key challenge preventing widespread In March 2021, Singapore’s Electronic Transactions adoption of eBLs since its introduction in the 1990s. Act (ETA) was amended to adopt the United Nations With the amendment of Singapore’s ETA to accelerate Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Singapore’s trade digitalisation effort, the Infocomm Model Law on the Electronic Transferable Records Media Development Authority (IMDA), the Maritime (MLETR). The ETA facilitates the use of electronic and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), Singapore transactions and e-commerce transactions by Customs and other agencies have brought industry consumers and businesses. With the latest amendment, partners together through trials as a step towards it enables the creation and use of transferable maritime trade digitalisation. documents and instruments such as electronic bills of lading (eBLs) which are key documents for cross-border Interoperability across digital ecosystems is a key trade. This allows eBLs to be legally recognised as element made possible via the TradeTrust digital utility, equivalent to paper Bills of Lading. that facilitates trusted exchange of trade documents across supply chains. The following are examples of eBL eBLs bring tangible benefits to supply chain trials conducted in 2021: players such as carriers, shippers, consignees, freight Figure 2 : Infographics from #dltledgers, Source forwarders and trade financing banks. For example, 1) Singapore-Rotterdam eBL Collaboration faster transactions via digital transfer instead of physical In January this year, Singapore and Rotterdam, the 2) Singapore-China (Shenzhen) Smart City Initiative How to get started delivery, cost savings from increased efficiency in- two major transshipment ports along the Europe-Far Currently, an ongoing pilot which aims to achieve document processing, lower risk of demurrage and East trade lane, completed a shipment using an eBL 1) TradeTrust Digital Utility mutual recognition of electronic trade documents other cargo holding costs from delayed arrival of the to shadow a live shipment. This shipment was carried for seamless cross-border trade between Singapore The TradeTrust source code is distributed under an bill of lading, and lowered