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Raising
the bar again
Singapore Customs
moves up a notch in annual ACE
pro-enterprise ranking
For the third consecutive year, Singapore
Customs has been named
one of the top three pro-enterprise government agencies in the
Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) Pro-Enterprise Survey.
In fact, it clinched the runner-up position this year.
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| Singapore Customs clinched
the coveted ACE Award for the third consecutive
year. |
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When Singapore Customs redefined its mission, vision and values
in 2005, it embarked on a journey in a new direction and has
since been making headway.
By focusing on regulating and facilitating trade, rather than
just protecting revenue, the agency saw a vast improvement in
its survey ranking – from 11th position in 2004 to 3rd
position in both 2005 and 2006.
This year, Singapore Customs ranked second out of 24 agencies
when it achieved a Pro-Enterprise Index of 86.7 points –
an increase over last year’s 82.8.
The agency improved its scores for all five components of the
Pro-Enterprise Index: Compliance Cost, Customer Responsiveness,
Pro-enterprise Orientation, Review of Rules and Transparency.
Its greatest improvement was in the area of Customer Responsiveness,
which shows that its efforts to engage customers and create
a conducive environment for business have made an impact.
Many survey respondents gave the agency favourable comments
such as “application is fast and efficient”, “very
proactive in providing support to companies” and “they
trust and listen to the customers”.
Pleased with Singapore Customs’ performance, Director-General
Teo Eng Cheong said, “This is a significant achievement
for us – to be able to consistently remain in the top
three positions over three years. I believe that fundamentally,
this reflects our commitment towards our vision and mission.
“We are guided by our strong and clear vision to be an
active and valuable partner to the trading community. Although
Singapore Customs is ultimately a regulatory agency responsible
for the integrity of the trading system, we do not regulate
mindlessly. We regulate with the aim to support Singapore as
a trusted and efficient trade hub. This requires smart regulations,
customer-centric procedures and good judgement by our officers.”
In maintaining a pro-business stance, Singapore Customs adopts
a robust rules review framework that incorporates multiple channels
for gathering feedback from its key stakeholders, such as staff,
partners and customers.
The inputs collected have shaped policy changes over the years.
For example, many tax-suspension schemes have been launched.
Singapore Customs now offers more innovative, adaptive and customised
solutions to cater to diverse needs. And under an enhanced framework
of controls, the agency leverages on companies’ in-house
IT systems to incentivise self-compliance, improve risk management
and minimise duplication of data entries.
| PRO-ENTERPRISE
INDEX COMPONENT |
2006 |
2007 |
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score |
score |
| Compliance Cost |
84.5 |
85.0 |
| Review of Rules |
81.3 |
85.7 |
| Transparency |
87.7 |
90.5 |
| Customer Responsiveness |
79.1 |
86.3 |
| Pro-enterprise Orientation |
81.1 |
86.0 |
Singapore Customs improved its scores for all five components
of the
Pro-Enterprise Index. |
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| Copyright © 2007
Singapore Customs. All Rights Reserved. |
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