Special Economic Zones in the OIC Region:
Learning from Experience
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Figure 20 – Jurong Island and Freeport - Overview
Source: Jurong Island, Singapore Business Review 2009
Vision and Objectives
Singapore is a free port and as such has attractive excise and import duty conditions. The
country’s free trade policy is at the core of its international trade policy and virtually all goods
which enter Singapore are duty-free.
FTZs were established in Singapore in the 1960s to facilitate entrepot trade in dutiable goods.82
The FTZs in Singapore were primarily developed for transhipment cargos and they provide 72
hour free storage for import/export of conventional and containerized cargo and 14 day free
storage for transhipment / re-export cargo.
In addition to FTZs, Singapore also adopted distriparks and warehouse schemes including
bonded warehouses and licensed warehouses. Bonded warehouses were formulated as an
extension of FTZs and allows imported goods to be removed from the FTZ and stored in a
bonded warehouse allowing suspension of Goods and Service Tax (GST).
Licensed warehouses allow a designated area to store dutiable goods such as liquor, tobacco,
motor vehicles and petroleum with the duty and GST payable suspended.
82 KMI (2005) Free Trade Zone and Port Hinterland Development. UN ESCAP, KMI.