A council member of the federation, Tony Chia, said the federation, together with its member state associations were not in favour of the manner in which offences under the demerit points were structured as many shipping and forwarding agents would incur the maximum penalty points quickly, thus impacting their businesses.

He said among the 23 offences under the demerit system were spelling mistakes in the manifest details, cancellation of manifest, late declaration of dutiable imported goods‎, penalty on making incorrect declarations and falsifying documents.

“The shipping and forwarding agents are penalised just for spelling mistakes in the manifest details which will eventually lead them to accumulating demerit points quickly.

“Many of such offences in declared documents to the Customs Department are not committed by forwarding and shipping agents but the importers and exporters themselves,” he told a media conference at Wisma Selangor Freight Forwarders and Logistics Association here yesterday.

The Customs Department introduced the Demerit Po‎int System on April 1 this year to allow the department to evaluate the performance of its agents more efficiently, while ensuring their compliance to policies and regulations.

Commenting further, Chia said offences such as fraud, smuggling and falsification of documents under the demerit system should be punished using the full extent of the law and not fall under the demerit points system.

He said under the new demerit system, receiving an accumulated 41 demerit points would lead to a licence suspension for six months.

So far, he said eight shipping and forwarding agents had received notice of suspension since implementation of the demerit system.