By Professor Busarin Chinkoettraphon, Faculty of Business Administration, International Trade Program
It is a process that gives the right to importers to import goods from overseas by sea or air to submit import declarations and pay duties and taxes (if any) in advance before the ship/aircraft arrives at the port/airport that is a customs checkpoint. This will allow importers to receive goods immediately upon the ship’s arrival (in cases where inspection is exempt). Aircraft cargo manifest data, ship-in report, and goods for ships in advance will be sent to the Customs Department’s computer system so that importers can submit the declaration data in advance before the ship/aircraft arrives. Importers can track the status of the process through the Customs Department’s E-Tracking system to plan in advance to receive goods upon the ship/aircraft’s arrival immediately.
For importing goods by ship : The ship’s arrival report and the ship’s cargo manifest must be filed at least 24 hours in advance before the ship arrives at the port, except for shipping lines traveling from Cambodia and Vietnam, which must be filed at least 6 hours in advance before the ship arrives at the port.
For air imports : Aircraft arrival reporting and aircraft manifest submission must be made within 1 hour after the aircraft departs from the departure airport.
Benefits of ( Pre – Arrival Processing)
To facilitate importers to have the option to clear customs to import goods from abroad in advance before the goods arrive, which will allow risk-free goods to be delivered immediately upon arrival, reducing time, costs, and international logistics and trade systems.
Pre-Arrival Processing will be effective on 1 February 2018 for all customs ports/airports nationwide. For Laem Chabang Port Customs Office, it will be effective on 1 March 2018.
Why does Thailand need Pre-Arrival Processing?
Because Thailand is a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which has a duty to comply with the WTO’s obligations. One of the important obligations and an increasingly important role at present is the obligation under the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which is an agreement that aims for member countries to facilitate trade between each other for the smoothness of international trade. As for Thailand, it has established mechanisms to support the TFA agreement by more than 90 percent.
