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An electronic advance cargo information system for customs clearance of road cargoes, namely the Road Cargo System (ROCARS), is expected to be rolled out early next year at all land boundary control points (LBCPs), a spokesman for the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau said today (October 16).
After the system is put to use, there will be a transitional period of 18 months before industry players are required to make submissions through ROCARS for all imports and exports of road cargoes.
"The transitional period should allow sufficient time for the industry players to adjust their mode of operation, train up their staff and/or prepare their information system, as necessary. Submissions will then be made mandatory in the third quarter of 2011," the spokesman said.
To prescribe the roles of each party for mandatory submissions and set a transitional period, there is a need to enact the relevant subsidiary legislation under the Import and Export Ordinance, namely the Import and Export (Electronic Cargo Information) Regulation.
Under the said Regulation, a shipper or a freight forwarder will be required to provide a pre-defined set of cargo information to the Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) electronically through ROCARS before the cargo consignment enters or exits Hong Kong in trucks.
As an acknowledgement, the shipper or freight forwarder will be given a reference number for passing on to the relevant trucker. The trucker will then do the "bundling" work, by providing to C&ED through ROCARS the reference number together with his vehicle's registration number. A trucker will be required to bundle in not less than 30 minutes before the truck is due to pass through an LBCP.
The trucker will be informed of whether his cargo needs to be inspected through a visual display unit at the LBCP. A truck not selected for inspection may leave immediately after the trucker has completed immigration clearance.
"With the implementation of ROCARS, cross-boundary trucks using the system, except those selected for inspection, will enjoy seamless customs clearance at the LBCPs. ROCARS will also enable Hong Kong to align early with international and regional developments on electronic customs clearance," the spokesman explained.
"C&ED has been launching publicity and set up outreach teams to help individual companies to migrate to ROCARS early. We hope to first attract high and medium volume users (who account for about 70% of the estimated submissions) to use ROCARS within the first nine months of the transitional period," the spokesman added.
C&ED will also arrange seminars and training for users of the system, including shippers, forwarders and truckers, and conduct joint testing for bulk users.
"We and C&ED will monitor the transition closely. We will continue to work with the industry during the transitional period and beyond to see if any operational improvements need to be made to ensure smooth running of the system," the spokesman said.
The Regulation is gazetted today (October 16). It will be tabled at the Legislative Council for negative vetting on October 21.
Ends/Friday, October 16, 2009
Issued at HKT 18:38
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