Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
90
reduce the cost of international trade, and computerise all processes related to trade. Focus
Group on Trading Across Borders (FGTAB) has facilitated several important initiatives over
the past few years:
 The design of new Standard Operating Procedures to help customs inspection systems
and to expedite the import-export
 The establishment of the Malaysian Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program
 The launch of the Customer-Centric Service Delivery initiative that seeks to reduce the
administrative burden of customs clearance and to improve quality of the overall
customs service.
 The setting up of a program for identifying reliable customs brokers and forwarding
agents.
The Malaysian government engages also the private sector in trade facilitation discussions and
initiatives. Much of this government-industry collaboration takes place at the Focus Group on
Trading Across Borders (FGTAB), a form of public-private partnership coordinated by the
Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (PEMUDAH). PEMUDAH involves many working
groups (e.g., on efficiency and trading across borders) that provide a forum for an open
interactive discussion.
4.3.2. Tangible iBAC activities in Malaysia160
Risk-based controls and international exchange of intelligence
Trade facilitation efforts are in the heart of border management at the Malaysia-Singapore
frontier in Johor, the southernmost tip of Malaysian mainland. There is a strong incentive to
accelerate the traffic, since the long queuing times at the border are costly and ineffective. To
speed up the traffic without lowering control over cross-border traffic, the Malaysian customs
follow a risk-based approach to border controls: they use information and intelligence to
identify and target cross-border movements of the highest risk.
The risk-based approach builds largely on the Malaysian customs’ exchange of information and
intelligence with international law enforcement agencies. At the ASEAN level, there is a
customs enforcement committee that facilitates regional exchange of intelligence. Then there
is also the Regional Intelligence Liaison Offices (RILO) of the World Customs Organisation
(WCO) that relay intelligence between customs authorities worldwide. A great deal of
intelligence exchange takes place with INTERPOL as well, especially in relation to cross-border
drug trafficking. In some cases, non-government agencies (NGOs) supply intelligence on
specific criminal activities, for example on illegal trade in CITES-protected commodities.
Bilateral exchange of tactical intelligence is common, as well. For example, some months ago,
Thai authorities notified the Malaysian customs about flight passengers en route to Kuala
Lumpur via Bangkok. These passengers had a record of drug trafficking and smuggling of
CITES-protected products, so the Malaysian customs controlled them as soon as they arrived.
In another case, there was a consignment of chewing tobacco declared as spices coming from
India to Australia trough Malaysia. The Malaysian customs informed their Australian
colleagues about this shipment. In another case, traffickers tried to smuggle a consignment of
liquor into Malaysia. In that case, the traffickers declared their goods as liquor at the Singapore
160 Based on interviews with seven experts of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, two experts of the Malaysian Civil
Aviation authority, and e-mail correspondence with the Malaysian Ministry of Health.