What is uCustoms?
uCustoms is a fully integrated, end-to-end, and customs modernization solution that delivers single window for goods clearance.
uCustoms also will be used for complete electronic licensing processes by the Cross Border Regulatory Agencies (CBRA) known as Other Government Agencies(OGA)/
Permit Issuance Agencies (PIA) and other players in the government agencies and private sectors related to the supply chain activities via land, sea and air mode.
What are the differences between Sistem Maklumat Kastam (SMK) and uCustoms system?
SMK is the customs operating system that deals with the customs related transactions since 1993.
It is a system that not fully automated and some of the processes were still required some forms of manual processes.
The integration with other OGA or PIA were not fully established and it is currently handled by another third party service
providers namely Mytradelink by the company known as Dagangnet. uCustoms on the other hand is a customs modernized solution that
caters end-to-end customs related processes that integrates with Cross Border Regulatory Agencies (CBRA) known as OGA/PIA that functions under one single platform.
Who are involved with uCustoms project?
The stakeholders involved can be categorized to the internal and external stakeholders .
a) The internal stakeholders involve about 13,000 staff in the RMCD. There are a total of sixteen (16) stakeholder groups, with each stakeholder group categorized based on specific departments and functions.
b) The external stakeholders can be divided into nine (8) stakeholder groups as follows:
- Cross Border Regulatory Agencies (CBRA),
- Business Community,
- Port Operators,
- Port Authorities,
- Service Providers,
- Vendors,
- Customers, and
- General Public.
How long does uCustoms project take before its implementation?
The project is expected to be completed in early 2016
What are the stages of uCustoms project implementation?
The stages involves in the uCustoms development are:
- Development Stage.
- Simulation Stage.
- Live Stage.
Is uCustoms a free services? Or do I need to pay for its services?
uCustoms will gradually take over CIS/SMK once the system is rolled out across the nation. The uCustoms system will be fully operation once they are stabilized.
When will Mytradelink ceased the operation to allow uCustoms to take its place under the National Single Window (NSW) project?
Mytradelink may ceased operation once the uCustoms is fully operational and stabilized.
Will the uCustoms system ensure consistent connectivity especially during line congestion or down-time?
The uCustoms team had noted the issue on system congestion and its infrastructure readiness to ensure its smooth transactions.
The uCustoms system can function with reasonable minimal bandwidth for its operations.
However, the issue was looked upon and will be monitored closely by business continuity team with the support of the respective team leaders of each work stream to assure minimal service disruptions and its business continuity.
What is uCustoms key performance indicators (KPIs) and what are the salient new declaration processes introduced in uCustoms?
The KPI targeted about 80% of the goods declaration process screening will automatically fall under the green category that do not require any human interventions with fast clearance.
The system encourages self-assessment that adhere to standardize fair declaration screening processes and in the same time eliminating the current inconsistent practices.
Will uCustoms system operate 24/7?
Yes. The system is accessible 24/7. However, certain services are subjected to the operating hours of the respective port.
Customs Examination Area (CEA) will incur substantial investment to renovate facilities that will be made to sustain the demands for at least 10-20 years. Will the port operators be reimbursed by the Ministry of Finance(MOF) for the cost incurred for the said renovations?
No. There will neither be any reimbursements from MOF nor the RMCD for the renovations, or upgrades.
There will be less incidences for physical inspections (Red status) since the uCustoms is endorsing self-declaration with higher percentage of green status clearance.
Therefore, the Cross Border Regulatory Agencies (CBRA) should fully utilize their existing facilities that are sufficient to cater for the CEA functions without incurring any major additional cost.
What are the other channels of communication besides emails with the inspection officers, the National Clearance Center(NCC) and the National Targetting Center(NTC)?
All communication are connected centrally into the uCustoms inbox messages to respective officer as this will provides more benefits and increase transparency and the process flow. The NCC and NTC will be located at same location for easy and direct communication with one another.
Is there any possibility there will be incidents of fraudulent information on declaration and law/act violation?
Enhanced security has been taken into consideration.
The Customs Acts 1967 laws is in the process of amendments by the Attorney general and will be presented to the parliament for approval.
The changes in the Act will among other includes provision to curb such fraudulent cases/ acts based on the future uCustoms system
What would happen to the curent cashiers licated at the ports/ airports/land modes?
All the positions inclusive of customs and the non-customs (clerical) staff will be redeployed under the organization and the job realignment exercise. There will not be any cash counters/kiosks except at location that are still dealing with the passengers exists in the respective ports/ airports/ land modes.
Do I need to install any program or hardware to access the uCustoms?
The system is built using a web-based program which could be accessed at your fingertips, anytime, anywhere using any devices.
