Tariff rates at tip of your cursor
KUALA LUMPUR: Traders in the manufacturing industry will no longer have to deal with the tediousness of manually looking up information on tariffs through books or CDs, which may also only contain dated information.
They can now use the online search portal Tariff Finder Online (TFO) to find up-to-date and accurate information on tariffs.
The web-based portal was officially launched recently by Tradenex.com Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM).
“There is a lot of data on tariffs, but the problem is getting hold of the information at the right time,” said Soon Koi Voon, Tradenex.com CEO.
At present, he said, anyone who wants to import or export goods would have to call up the Customs department or manually sift through tariff books and CDs for information.
“And very often, you’ll need to cross-reference more than one book or CD – it’s a time-consuming process,” he said.
TFO is targeted at manufacturers (who are involved in the import of components), importers, exporters, distributors and freight agents.
According to Soon, TFO was developed locally through a partnership with independent software vendor In-Glow Technologies Sdn Bhd.
“We took only three months, from the time of conception to completion, to develop the entire system,” he said.
TFO was built on Microsoft .NET framework, and uses both SQL Server and Windows Server.
Tyson Dowd, Microsoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd senior director of local software economy, likens TFO to the “Suez Canal” for the customs industry in the country.
“It is virtually the entire database of the Malaysian Custom tariff rates consolidated into a single web-based platform,” he said.
“With a click of the mouse, traders can now search for information – it will ensure greater efficiency for the industry,” he said.
TFO’s database contains entire tariff rates of the Malaysian Customs for more than 8,800 items under Harmonised Systems, and more than 12,600 under the Asean Harmonised Tariff nomenclature codes, according to Tradenex.com.
Ironing out inefficiencies
“There are a lot of inefficiencies in the supply chain industry, many of which are not due to poor business processes or weak management, but because information is not available at the right time and place,” said Datuk Paul Low, FMM vice-president and chairman of Tradenex.com.
He said supply chain processes in the country are often not integrated with warehousing, sales and suppliers, although they should be.
“As long as we have these inefficiencies, we will waste time and be unable to manufacture and ship products in minimal time,” Low said.
“Also, because tariffs now vary from country to country, the business of import and export has become more complicated,” he said.
Low said it has become harder to keep track of the latest tariff reductions. “If you’re overseas and you want to check for information on tariffs in Malaysia, you would have to make numerous calls or buy books from here,” he added.
Avoiding confusion
According to Ken Wong, In-Glow Technologies managing director, there are two concerns when importing goods – if a duty or tariff needs to be paid, and if an import licence is required.
“To find the answer, you will first need a tariff code,” he said. “If you do not have years of experience in the manufacturing industry, you’ll have a hard time looking for tariff codes because the terms used in this business are not the same as those a layman uses,” said Wong.
For example, a layman who wants to find the tariff code for cars might simply search for the word, although the typical term used is “vehicle,” he said.
TFO has a smart search feature which enables a person who is not familiar with manufacturing jargon to find the proper tariff codes easily.
“You just need to key in a word, and the smart search feature will provide suggestions of what it thinks you are looking for,” said Wong.
TFO also comes with multilingual support. “Misinterpretations often occur in classifications, which might cause an importer to pay the wrong duties and get fined for it,” he said.
For example, if someone wants to look up tariff codes for importing live fish, he might come across the word “fry,” which is a classification for immature fish.
But the word “fry” may have an ambiguous meaning, Wong said, especially to those who are not well-versed in English.
“The finder can check boxes for Chinese and Malay, and the site will display the translated word in these languages on the same page,” he said.
Pay to use
Traders who are interested in using TFO will have to register at the website, and pay a registration fee of RM200 (per user).
A one-day pass costs RM20 while a 12 month subscription costs RM600.
“We also have corporate rates for companies that want to register multiple users,” Soon said.
But those who just want to preview some of TFO’s features without registering, can log in with the username and password “demo,” he said.
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