Customs and shipping updates

Below is a quick overview of customs and shipment requirements around the world that may cause delays to the delivery of your international mail 

Sales and Service Tax Implementation effective 1 September 2018

Effective 1 September 2018, Malaysia will implement Sales and Service Tax (SST), replacing the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

 

All shipments imported into Malaysia on or after 1 September 2018, will be subject to Sales Tax except those under specific exemptions. All export shipments, on the other hand, will not be subject to Sales Tax.

 

We contiune to offer you flexibility in settling the duties and taxes as well as Sales Tax applicable to your shipment. Kindly pay the duties and taxes and Sales Tax within seven working days of receiving your shipment¹ (for account holders) and 1 day² (for cash account)

 

Your invoice will also include a handling fee.

 

Should you have further questions, please contact our customer hotline at 1300 882 882. You may also log onto the Malaysian government’s website relating to the SST for more information.

 

Notes:

1. Applies to duty and tax as well as Sales Tax below MYR10,000 per shipment or per air waybill. For duty and tax payments above MYR10,000, please contact your local TNT Account Manager or our Customer Service Team for further information.

2. The handling fee is MYR50 or 2% of the duty and tax which-ever is greater. There will also be a 6% service tax on the handling fee. Handling fee does not apply if you have a duty and tax amount below MYR50 per shipment or per airway bill. 

 

Duty / Tax Clearance Threshold and Admin Fee

As part of our service commitment to TNT customer, we are pleased to inform that with effective from 01st November 2014, TNT will automatically clear any shipment with duty / tax up to RM 1,500 by paying to Customs on TNT customer behalf.

 

As such TNT customer will receive their shipments earlier while having the privilege of 7 days credit terms, hence TNT customer will not need to prepare any payment upon delivery.

 

With this implementation, we are providing credit facility and also taking into account the market changes, the admin fee or processing fee will be MYR 50 or 2.9% of the duty/tax amount. (Whichever is higher).

 

Please also note that storage charges will be levied for shipment which is pending for more than 48 hours from date of notification.

 

South Korea - new 5-digit postal code

South Korea's government has announced that the existing 6-digit postal codes will be replaced with a new set of 5-digit postal codes.

 

Kindly ensure that the new 5-digit postal code is used when scheduling a shipment to South Korea. Shipments not using the new 5-digit postal code may experience delays.We thank you for your understanding and cooperation, more importantly, your support to TNT Express.

 

For more information, kindly log on to the website below: https://www.epost.go.kr/main/eng/Enpost_Introduction1.html

Philippines - new customs memorandum order

Philippine Bureau of Customs is now enforcing Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 28-2007 - Description of Imported Article in Tariff Terms.

  • 1.1 General Description
  • 1.2 Specific Description
  • 1.3 Make / Brand
  • 1.4 Model / Style
  • 1.5 Capacity / Quantity / Grade / Process
  • 1.6 Retail Packaging

The above information (where applicable) should be provided on the commercial invoice. If a packing list is included then the information on it must align with the commercial invoice. Insufficient information to submit a compliant declaration will result in the consignment being held whilst the receiver is contacted for further information and delays will be experienced.

Storage charges will also be incurred while the consignment remains on hold and these costs will be recovered from the receiver.

Please contact our Customer Service hotline at 1300 882 882 for any enquiries.

China - wine import regulations & requirements

According to China CIQ (China Inspection and Quarantine) and Customs regulation, wine imported into China must go through formal CIQ (China Inspection and Quarantine) and customs declaration process, which requires the provision of specific Customs paperwork (except for limited wine declared as personal goods).

 

Below are the general guidelines for the importation of wine to China which are fully governed by the destination Port Customs.

 

1. For general trade goods

There is no limitation on quantity, but below paperwork must be provided:

 

a. Colorized wine labels (both in Chinese and English)
b. Sanitary certificate from origin
c. Certificate of origin
d. Label examination certificate which issued by CIQ

 

2. For personal goods

  • Gateway / Airport : Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK)
    Limitation of Quantity : 5 Bottles
    Remarks : Maximum declared value not to exceed RMB 1,000 (or EUR 125) per consignment
  • Gateway / Airport : Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)
    Limitation of Quantity : 4 Bottles
    Remarks : NIL
  • Gateway / Airport : Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN)
    Limitation of Quantity : 4 Bottles
    Remarks : NIL
  • Gateway / Airport : Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (SZX)
    Limitation of Quantity : 2 Bottles
    Remarks : NIL

Brazil - new procedures for return to origin shipments

The transport of Excise goods, including wine, is strongly recommended to be moved only via Special Service as a matter of policy. The regulation for Express clearance in Brazil restricts imports not only to a maximum value, but also to its purpose. For this reason, some shipments are determined by customs to be required to be returned to origin (RO) upon arrival as a non-compliant shipment.

 

The main reasons to have RO determined by customs are:

 

  • Lack of Importer’s Tax ID
  • Inappropriate/Inaccurate importer’s Tax ID
  • Restricted importer’s Tax ID
  • Prohibited Goods (Ex: Used Materials / Alcoholic Beverages

 

Non-compliant purpose :

 

  • Goods for Commercial purpose (Ex: resale)
  • Goods for Industrial purpose (Ex: Assembly Line Material)

 

Each respective country will notify customers based on pre alert sent by TNT Brazil. The pre-alert will be sent to the country and will advise about RO with a list of shipments and the reason why.

Unfortunately customs will not withdraw the RO designation once the status has been applied. The import declaration is cancelled upon arrival and TNT Brazil is not able to resubmit or even correct it.  

Australia - Prohibited Items

Australian Customs have released the below information relating to goods that will be seized and destroyed coming in to Australia.

 

The following items are not permitted to be imported in to Australia.

 

  • Laser pointers;
  • Flick knives; and
  • Novelty shock devices, such as electric fly swatters and cigarette lighters.

 

Malaysia - STRATEGIC TRADE ACT (STA) 2010 (Full Enforcement in 1st July 2011)

 

Effective from 1 July 2011, the Malaysian government will enforce the Strategic Trade Act (STA) 2010. With the enforcement of this act, shippers are required to obtain a permit to export, transship, transit or brokering of any strategic items. In order to comply with this act and not to disrupt the delivery of the shipments, we encourage our customers to learn more about STA 2010. For more information on STA 2010, you may visit the Ministry of International Trade and Industry's (MITI) official website at www.miti.gov.my or contact Miti at 603-6203 3022 These goods will be seized and destroyed by Australian Customs and Border Protection if arriving into Australia. Please ensure no such items are shipped.

Thailand - E-Customs registration requirement for all importers and exporters residing in Thailand

Please be aware, that from 3rd March, 2014, Royal Thai Customs have began strictly enforcing the pre-requisite application document requirements for ALL IMPORTERS and EXPORTERS residing in Thailand for E-CUSTOMS REGISTRATION PROCESS.The regulation which originally came into force in Feb 2012, now require ALL IMPORTERS and EXPORTERS residing in Thailand to provide their original Passport (Foreigners) or ID card (Thai Citizens) for both persons and juristic persons (authorized directors in concerned companies) to Customs for verification purpose in order to register themselves in E-Customs. The customer can then add TNT as a broker to the E-Customs system so that TNT THAILAND is then authorized by Thai Customs to perform Customs clearance formality on their behalf.

 

If any Thailand residing IMPORTERS or EXPORTERS fail to comply with the above E-Customs registration requirement imposed on High Value shipments, they are likely to encounter delays in the formal customs clearance process.

 

Please also note that registration process will take approximately 3 working days, provided that pro-active provision of all supporting documents for registration are supplied by the IMPORTERS and EXPORTERS in Thailand to TNT THAILAND.

Indonesia - Personal Effect Consignments to Indonesia

With immediate effect, all personal consignments arriving into Indonesia should adhere to the below latest Customs directives:

 

  • 1) Receiver Name must be an Individual (not a company) and matches with the Passport name.
  • 2) Customs will enforce a check on the accuracy of Shipper invoice declaration against TNT Clearance manifest. Therefore it is of utmost importance that consignment and invoice data entered by origin must be 100% accurate.
  • 3) The contents must state as follows, "Used Personal Belonging Items".

 

All shipments failing to comply with the above requirements will be subject to Customs approval by application for an amendment of the Customs manifest data, which will take more than a week and will incurred additional storage charges.  

Malaysia - strategic trade act (sta) 2010 (full enforcement in 1st july 2011)

Effective from 1 July 2011, the Malaysian government will enforce the Strategic Trade Act (STA) 2010. With the enforcement of this act, shippers are required to obtain a permit to export, transship, transit or brokering of any strategic items. In order to comply with this act and not to disrupt the delivery of the shipments, we encourage our customers to learn more about STA 2010. For more information on STA 2010, you may visit the Ministry of International Trade and Industry's (MITI) official website at www.miti.gov.my or contact Miti at 603-6203 3022 

By visiting and using this site, you consent to the placing of cookies by TNT and its partners. Find out more