Six ASEAN countries implement automated regional Customs Transit System

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Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam have started the implementation of the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS), a computerised customs transit management system available to operators who move goods across land borders in the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Region.

The ACTS system facilitates the movement of cargo through the territory of the 5 participating ASEAN Member States, as transporters can travel from the point of loading of cargo to that of destination in a different ASEAN country with no need to submit a different customs declaration at each border and no need to transship goods to other trucks in each country. The duties and taxes are covered by a single guarantee for all the countries involved in the transit operation.

The ACTS was established by the Protocol 7 of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on the Facilitation of Goods in Transit (AFAFGIT) signed by the ASEAN Member States on 16 December 1998 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, and replaces the traditional paper based controls with electronic processing of data and messages that contain the information required for the transit procedure.


Entities eligible to use the ACTS system includes importers, exporters, transporters, freight forwarders and customs agents. However, a precondition for using the system is the registration of such entities as ACTS-traders. Moreover, the vehicle to be used in cross-border transport must have been granted with an ASEAN Goods Vehicle Cross-Border Permit (AGVCBP) by one of the competent transport authorities in ASEAN countries. Traders using logistics operators, carriers, freight forwarders and customs agents holding the status of Authorised Transit Trader (ATT), will benefit from additional facilitations in their transit operations, including the possibility to start transit movements from their own premises at departure, and to deliver to their own premises at destination.