Singapore Customs collects trade data for IE Singapore to compile and publish. The trade data is collected from the Import and Export Permits submitted by the traders or declarants through the TradeNet® System. Declarants are advised to make true and correct declarations when submitting the permit declarations to Customs for approval. Permits are randomly selected to be returned with supporting document to Singapore Customs for verification. Declarants are advised to read and comply with the conditions listed in the Customs Permits. Non-compliance of permit conditions and furnishing false or incomplete information to Customs are offences under both the Customs Act and the Regulation of Imports and Exports Act.
Under the Regulation of Imports and Exports Regulations, permits are required for all consignments imported into, exported out of or transshiped in Singapore. A trader or declarant who applies for the permit must return the permit to the shipping agent or submit the cargo manifest declaration to the airline agent within 10 days of arrival and within 7 days of departure of the vessel/aircraft for manifest reconciliation.
Traders are advised to read carefully the conditions imposed on the Customs Permits for compliance. Declarants are also advised to make true and correct declarations when submitting declarations to Customs for approval. The law provides penalties for non-compliance of conditions and false, wrong or incorrect declarations.
Listed below are some of the common permit conditions that are imposed on the Customs permits under the various permit types.
- Payment Conditions
For imports of used personal and household effects under a GST Relief Certificate, the following conditions have to be complied with if there are controlled, restricted, prohibited articles or dutiable items found in the shipment:
| All controlled, restricted and prohibited articles found in the shipment must be handed over to Revenue Control Branch after unstuffing of container. |
| Duty and GST on liquors and tobacco can be paid at any checkpoint during the time of clearance for conventional cargo or at Documentation Specialists Branch or Revenue Control Branch after unstuffing of container. | |
Importers or the declaring agent are reminded to comply with the following conditions in respect of permits taken out which involve payment of customs duty or GST:
| Payment of customs duty/GST must be made at the authorised banks prior to the removal of goods from customs control. |
| Successful Giro deduction of the amount to be paid from the importer's account. Importer must have enough fund in bank account to meet payment before instructing declaring agent to make this declaration. |
| You are required to make good the duty/GST should the Giro deduction fail. Customs may invoke your BG for recovery of the duty/GST. A penalty charge may be imposed by customs for an unsuccessful GIRO deduction. | |
- Cargo movement
For goods that require customs clearance and endorsement as well as supervision by customs officers, some of the conditions imposed on the permits are as follows:
| The goods and this permit must be produced for customs clearance/endorsement at a Free Trade Zone "In" Gate. |
| The goods and this permit must be produced for customs clearance/endorsement at Woodlands Checkpoint/Tuas Checkpoint. |
| Goods released from the 1st checkpoint must be produced at the 2nd Checkpoint within 24 hours. Otherwise, they must be stored at a place approved by a proper officer of Customs. |
| The goods must be produced to the checkpoint in a bonded truck/container for sealing. The truck/container must be able to be secured to the satisfaction of the proper officer of Customs. | |
- Return of permits or/and supporting documents
Certain permits are required to be returned to Customs. Sometimes, Singapore Customs requires the supporting documents such as invoices and bill of lading to be submitted.
Examples of such conditions are as follows:
| This permit must be returned to Permits Compliance Unit, Customs HQ within 4 working days after it has been used. A copy of MPA's port clearance must be furnished for export via LOB. |
| If the permit is not used, it must be cancelled or re-validated not later than 24 hours after it has been used. |
| You must submit an official receipt issued by the place of destruction together with this permit to Permits Compliance Unit, Customs HQ within 4 working days after it has been used. |
| Approved by Singapore Customs subject to the condition you must submit the CCP, invoices, freight and insurance papers to The Singapore Customs within 48hrs by fax (6337 1556) or by email at customs_tn48hr@customs.gov.sg. | |
- Acknowledgement of receipt
Acknowledgement of receipt is required for certain types of permits such as customs outward permit for dutiable liquors/tobacco exported or exemption permit for dutiable items granted exemption.
| The following acknowledgement must be obtained from the mater/captain of vessel, chief clerk, Malayan Railway (KTM), storekeeper or postmaster; --- I certify that I have to-day received ----- packages/containers of goods as declared. |
I am the claimant and I have received the goods declared
|
_____________________ |
_____________________ |
|
Name of registered signatory |
Signature and date | | |
- Marking requirements
Marking requirements are imposed as permit conditions for permits covering liquors or tobacco, for example in respect of exports of popular brands of cigarettes or liquors to 9 designated countries, etc. Examples of permit conditions on marking requirements are as follows:
| Cigarettes with Singapore Health Warning Clause are not allowed to be exported or re-exported from Singapore. |
| Each packet, box of cigarettes, bottle/container of liquors/wines and their outer cartons, and each outer carton of beer/stout must be marked "Singapore Duty Not Paid" before removal. |
| Every packet/container of cigarette must be clearly and conspicuously printed with government health warning. |
| The outer cartons of liquors must be marked "Singapore Duty Not Paid". | |
- Preferential duty rate conditions
For companies claiming preferential duty rate on their dutiable imports, they are to comply with the permit conditions imposed on the Customs permit. Examples of preferential duty rate conditions are as follows:
| You are required to produce a valid certificate of origin in the prescribed form from the manufacturer covering the goods of New Zealand origin/invoices for endorsement at the checkpoint. |
| You are required to produce a valid certificate of origin in the prescribed form from the manufacturer covering the goods of New Zealand origin/invoices for endorsement by Customs Officer at the time of unstuffing at the licensed warehouse. |
| If you intend to claim preferential duty rate before removal of the goods, you are required to produce a valid certificate of origin for endorsement at Documentation Specialists Branch, #07-01, Revenue House. | |
- Wrong conversion of currency or use of wrong exchange rate
- The exclusion of insurance and freight charges in the calculation of GST payable
- Data entry error in omission of zeros or numerals when making a declaration on the value into the TradeNet® system by the declarant
- The unit price is taken as total price in declarations
- The weight is mistaken as invoice value
- Mistaking the sub-total as total invoice value
- Omission of advance payment or deposit
- Omission of value of goods supplied free-of-charge
- Omission of repair cost, processing fee, cost of goods and raw materials for returned cargo
- Failure to produce goods at Customs IN/OUT gates & Customs stations & obtain Customs endorsements
- Failure to bond goods at licensed premises on the same day of removal from PSA
- Failure to obtain Customs supervision for stuffing/unstuffing of containers
- Checklists of Common Technical Errors (PDF 27kb)
Rejection
If a declaration is incomplete or erroneous, Crimson Logic will reject the declaration and would not route it to Customs. Crimson Logic will transmit a rejection message with the code "Error M" to the trader. If a declaration is processed by Customs and found not to meet with Customs requirements, Customs will transmit a rejection message with the code "CR" to the trader. In such a case, the trader must re-submit the entire declaration to Customs after rectifying the errors or omissions. The re-submission is considered a fresh declaration under a new unique reference number.
Validity of permits
- Inward permits for the movement of goods to licensed or bonded warehouses and for temporary import are valid for a period of 14 days. Blanket inward permits are valid till the end of the calendar month.
- Removal permits for the movement of dutiable goods between licensed warehouses are valid for a period of 2 days from the date of approval. The validity period for the movement of goods from one bonded warehouse to another under a RM permit is one calendar month.
- Outward permits for dutiable goods are valid for 3 days and that for non-dutiable goods is 14 days from the date of approval. Outward permits covering the movement of dutiable sea stores are valid for a period of 2 days from the date of approval.
- ME permits for the release of goods from a bonded warehouse are valid for one calendar month and that for direct importation goods is 14 days.
- Duty Exemption Certificates are valid for a period of 14 days for the importation of goods direct from any point of entry and two days if released from a licensed warehouse. GST relief certificates are valid for a period of 14 days from the date of approval.
- White Transhipment permits are valid for 14 days, while that for Pink transhipment permits is 30 days.
- Duty/GST Payment permits are valid for 14 days from the date of approval.
- If the goods are not removed within the stipulated period, the validity of the permit may be extended. The application for the extension of validity period can be submitted electronically before the expiry of the permit.
Amendment of permits
A Customs permit can only be amended with the written authority of the Customs office. It is an offence to amend or add any particulars to a Customs or Joint Customs/IE Singapore permit without Customs' authorisation.
Amendment of most of the fields under the header level and selected fields at the item level can be submitted electronically through the TradeNet® System. The list of fields which may be amended electronically through the TradeNet® System is given in Annex A and B ( DOC 111kb ).
The conditions for making electronic amendments are as follows:
- The application is made by the same company which declared the permit.
- The application can only be made if the permit has not been used for cargo clearance.
- A permit can be amended only four times electronically.
- A maximum of 30 fields may be amended during each electronic amendment.
- No electronic amendment is allowed if the earlier amendment was made electronically. If further amendments are required for this permit, the trader may apply for amendment to Procedures & Processing Branch though E-filing.
Any application for extension of the validity or departure period must be submitted within the validity period of the permit. Any late application for extension will be rejected by the System with the message "Late Amendment".
An amended permit will be transmitted to the applicant upon approval of the electronic amendment request. The amended permit will have an "Amendment Summary" which lists all the fields which have been amended for the particular application. The most up-to-date Customs Permit must be produced to Customs at the time of cargo clearance.
Request for amendment of other fields, i.e those disallowed electronic amendment through the TradeNet® System, should be submitted through E-Filing for both payment and non-payment permits. If there is a need for verification, Customs will contact the applicant and request for the supporting documents to be submitted to Procedures & Processing Branch at Fax No: (65) 6250 9606.
Customs non-payment permits for non-controlled goods whether Customs or joint permits are allowed to be cancelled electronically through the TradeNet® System. Non-payment permits include Inward, Major Exporter, Outward, White Transhipment, Pink Transhipment, Removal and Exemption (excluding IZ & EZ) Permits. Electronic cancellation will enable you to cancel permits on any day round the clock.
You will be able to cancel a Customs permit under the following conditions:
- It has not been utilized to clear cargo;
- It is a TradeNet® permit and has not expired for more than 1 day;
- It is not a payment permit (permit type ID, DP, IG, IZ or EZ);
- It is not a blanket permit;
- It has not been returned to Customs Manifests Unit;
- It is a Removal Permit (RM) covering dutiable goods from/to licensed warehouses but stock movement has not been posted;
- It is an Inward or ME Permit and goods not released from an unmanned place (place of release code not = JMB, LOB, ANCH, DGL, JFP or PFP);
- It is an Outward Permit and goods not exported via an unmanned place (place of receipt code not = JMB, LOB, ANCH, DGL, JFP or PFP); and
- It is an Exemption Permit (Permit type IE or EX) and goods are not released from a bonded warehouse, an approved place or an unmanned place (place of release code not = BW, O, JMB, LOB, DGL, ANCH, JFP or PFP).
To submit a request for electronic cancellation of a Customs permit, you need to specify in the Cancellation Declaration the unique reference number, the permit type, permit number, replacement permit number (if any), declarant's NRIC number, name, telephone number and nationality.
For Customs non-payment permits which are not allowed to be cancelled electronically through the TradeNet® System, applications for cancellation are to be submitted by E-Filing. If there is a need for verification, Customs will contact the applicant and request the supporting documents to be submitted to Procedures & Processing Branch at Fax No: (65) 6250 9606.
Application for manual cancellation of a payment permit must be made not later than the following working day after the expiry of the permit. Payment should not been made for the permit and cancellation is only applicable to unused permits with "G1" permit condition.
The application for cancellation is to be made through E-Filing. If there is a need for verification, Customs will contact the applicant and request for the supporting documents to be submitted to Procedures & Processing Branch at Fax No: (65) 6250 9606.
- Failure to return endorsed copy of Customs permit within stipulated time. (Late return of permit)
- Failure to return endorsed copy of Customs permit. (Non return of permit)
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