David William

Once the goods have arrived at the buyer's destination port, the buyer assumes responsibility for the costs associated with importing and delivering the goods. Some of these costs include the following:

Unloading the product at the port terminal
Transferring the product within the terminal and to the delivery site
Custom duty charges and associated with importing the goods
Charges for transporting, unloading, and delivering the goods to the final destination

A loose cargo load, while sometimes confused with LCL, is a load that is not palletized. This term can apply to shipments that do not require palletization and/or cannot be containerized due to their dimensions.

Sometimes loose cargo is used to describe goods that simply have not been palletized yet. Almost all carriers require palletization of goods to avoid damage and allow for smoother loading and unloading.

In an international trade, bill of exchange is a negotiable instrument made by seller/exporter addressed to the buyer/importer. Once after shipping goods, the required documents for import along with bill of exchange are submitted with exporter’s bank to send to foreign buyer through buyer’s bank. The said bill of exchange draws in duplicate as per specified format.

Bill of exchange contains the reference details of shipment, amount of invoice to be receivable from overseas buyer, the time of payment to be effected, bank details etc. The bill of exchange is drawn on the letter head of exporter and signs under and sends to buyer through his bank. Once after reaching documents to overseas buyer, he accepts bill of exchange by signing on bill of exchange. On maturity date of bill of exchange, the buyer effects amount of proceeds to the supplier of goods through his bank.

In GST regime, input tax credit of the integrated tax (IGST) and GST Compensation Cess shall be available to the importer and later to the recipients in the supply chain, however the credit of basic customs duty (BCD) would not be available. In order to avail ITC of IGST and GST Compensation Cess, an importer has to mandatorily declare GST Registration number (GSTIN) in the Bill of Entry. Provisional IDs issued by GSTN can be declared during the transition period. However, importers are advised to complete their registration process for GSTIN as ITC of IGST would be available based on GSTIN declared in the Bill of Entry. Input tax credit shall be availed by a registered person only if all the applicable particulars as prescribed in the Invoice Rules are contained in the said document, and the relevant information, as contained in the said document, is furnished in FORM GSTR-2 by such person.
Customs EDI system would be interconnected with GSTN for validation of ITC. Further, Bill of Entry data in non-EDI locations would be digitized and used for validation of input tax credit provided by GSTN.

Malaysia is a multi-cultural country with a history of cosmopolitanism. English is commonly used in both daily life contexts and professional/administrative contexts. It should not be much of a difficulty for foreign investors to communicate with locals in English.

Malaysia is situated right on the Malacca Straits, the main gateway connecting the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, which gives it a huge advantage in trade traffic. The local trade infrastructures are also of excellent condition, and there is already an existing well-established financial sector in the country.

In addition, Malaysian consumers are quite easygoing and generous, accepting new products with clear brand requirements, guaranteed quality and price are not the deciding factors.

On the other hand, it can be frustrating to conduct business in Malaysia at times, in part because of corruption. The country only scored 47 on Transparency International 2018 ranking of Corruption Perceptions Index, meaning there are still major transparency issues in the country.

The local government still retains some policies which prefer ventures by indigenous Malaysian to foreign investors. It is important to understand these challenges first before you invest in a business in the country to prevent negative surprises.