A WCO National Workshop on Customs Laboratory was held in the headquarters of Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD), in Putrajaya, from 4 to 7 July 2022. The Workshop, which was also a diagnostic mission, was organized jointly by the WCO and Malaysian Customs, with the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund. It was attended by 24 officials who work at the headquarters and the regional Customs.
At the opening of the Workshop, the Deputy Director General of RMCD, Dato’ Abdullah Bin Jaafar, remarked that world economic activities are progressing more quickly and a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia needed to be established as soon as possible for achieving Customs missions, such as revenue collection and border enforcement of controlled substances by providing analytical results.
During the Workshop, participants and the WCO experts discussed their analysis needs and relevant areas of analytical methodology, the infrastructure model and action plans for the establishment of a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia. The outcomes were compiled as a recommendation and submitted to RMCD at the closing of the Workshop.
At the closing ceremony the Acting Director General of RMCD, Dato’ Haji Zazuli Bin Johan, remarked that one of the main reasons why RMCD intended to have their own Customs Laboratory as to promote trade facilitation by reducing the time required for analysis. He thanked the representatives from the WCO Secretariat for facilitating the high-level discussion on this topic and expected that the workshop would facilitate the establishment of a Customs Laboratory in Malaysia.