Improving the Border Agency Cooperation
Among the OIC Member States for Facilitating Trade
94
approach, Malaysia also organizes training courses for foreign customs officials. Such
international training events help building and fostering relations with foreign customs
people, while also facilitating sharing of best practices. Moreover, Malaysia is advocating
harmonization of licensing and product safety rules at the ASEAN level. Although at an early
stage, such collaboration sets an example for other countries that seek to lower technical non-
tariff barriers to international trade. Malaysia demonstrates its strong commitment to air
cargo security by participating in the IATA’s Secure Freight pilot. The primary motive for
participating in the program is to assure other countries that Malaysia is a secure source of air
cargo. Many practical BAC arrangements take place at specific border crossings where customs
officers at the both sides of the border know each other and share information informally for
the mutual benefit. Perhaps the main lesson learned from the Malaysian case is that local BAC
projects at specific border crossings often have the biggest positive impact on trade facilitation
and border management.
The Malaysian BAC activities face some challenges, too. Unfortunately, recent budget cuts have
resulted in reduced training activity in the past few years. Moreover, the development of the
ASEAN level regional AEO is progressing slowly because some countries lack resources or
political commitment to support the program. It is also a major challenge that at local border
crossings - where the benefits of BAC activities seem to be most important - there are
considerable differences between neighbouring border states in terms of development levels,
infrastructure, culture, among some other factors. Finally, in the long run, the informal, ad hoc
way of sharing intelligence at the Malaysian border posts might block further development of
more sophisticated automatic risk assessment systems.
Finally, the Table below summarizes the main international BAC activities in Malaysia. Many of
these activities are up and running, but there is little evidence available regarding their impact
on the speed, cost-efficiency or security of cross-border logistics.
Table 14. Summary on the key international BAC activities in Malaysia
Report sub-headings Status
Related international
arrangements
Risk-based controls and international
exchange of intelligence
Operational Mainly Ad hoc bilateral exchange
/ WCO RILO
Cooperative fight against trafficking in
pharmaceuticals and controlled substances
Operational Malaysia-Thailand & Malaysia-
Indonesia
International training Operational WCO Capacity building
Harmonisation of licensing and product
safety rules
Under development ASEAN
International collaboration on air cargo
security
Pilot phase ICAO Chicago convention Annex
17
Towards regional e-clearance systems Under development ASEAN
Mutual recognition (MRAs) of Authorized
Economic Operator (AEO) programs
Under development Multiple bilateral agreements
Source: Case interviews and CBRA analysis