LABUAN: A senior Umno leader here yesterday disclosed that the proposed imposition of a declaration fee by the Customs Department for all duty-free vehicles leaving the island starting from January 1 next year would be postponed.
He said the Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership here had earlier met with Federal Territory and Urban Well-being Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Datuk Raja Zainal Abidin to discuss the matter before it was brought up to the cabinet.
“We have been informed that the cabinet committee had agreed to postpone the implementation of the new policy and the matter would be restudied,” he said.
Meanwhile, the spokesperson for one of the appointed agents of the Customs Department here, when contacted on December 17, explained that the owner of a duty-free vehicle is only required to pay a declaration fee totaling RM100 once in a year.
When asked for the rationale behind the new policy, he said the department had discovered that many of the duty-free vehicles brought out of Labuan did not return before the stipulated time limit of 90 days.
“The department is required to implement the new policy to avoid such situation where some duty-free vehicles brought out from Labuan had exceeded the stipulated time limit. So, in effect, we would be assisting the department to not only collect the required payment, but also to list out all the cars going out from the island and the duration it has been away,” the spokesperson said.
The Borneo Post recently reported that all duty-free vehicles here need to be declared starting from January 1 next year if the owners want to bring them out of this island.
A letter issued by the Labuan Customs Department stated that vehicle owners have to pay RM100 for declaration purposes to their appointed agent, S &V Services here.
The letter also said that first-time applicants for the e-Vis card of their vehicles need to fill in the customs form on the first floor of Labuan Customs Department, Export and Import Unit.