Customs Act 1960 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 4 · Importation and Exportation
38A. Modification of provisions for cross-border railway preclearance outside Singapore
Feedback & supportLast amended by an amending law of 2026.
The provisions of this Act which prohibit or restrict the import of any section 38 import prohibited goods extend to apply to —
import
“import” means to bring or cause to be brought into the customs territory by any means from any place including a free trade zone; except that goods bona fide in transit, including goods which have been taken into any free trade zone from outside the customs territory or transhipped, are not, for the purpose of the levy of customs duties or excise duties, deemed to be imported unless they are or become uncustomed goods;
any person who is travelling to Singapore on a pre-cleared train journey on a cross-border railway and arrives or is due to arrive at a Singapore designated area (which is outside Singapore) of the cross-border railway at which pre-clearance procedures are carried out; and
any goods worn or carried or apparently in the possession or immediate control of a person mentioned in paragraph (a),as if the person were entering or arriving or had entered or arrived in Singapore, and the goods were about to be or were recently imported into Singapore.
The following provisions of this Act as they affect any person or section 38 import prohibited goods mentioned in subsection (1) apply with the following modifications:
prohibited goods
“prohibited goods” means goods the import or export of which is prohibited, either conditionally or absolutely, by notification made under section 38;
any reference in section 108(a) to goods in the course of being imported includes a reference to goods worn or carried or apparently in the possession or immediate control of a person mentioned in subsection (1)(a);
any reference in section 109(1)(b) or (2) to a customs office or customs station or police station is a reference only to any appropriate space within the Singapore designated area which is outside Singapore;
any reference in section 109(1)(b) or (2) to any person entering or having recently entered Singapore by rail includes a reference to any person who is travelling to Singapore on a pre-cleared train journey and arrives or is due to arrive at the Singapore designated area outside Singapore at which pre-clearance procedures are carried out;
any reference in any provision to an officer of customs or a proper officer of customs or senior officer of customs is a reference only to an officer of customs or a proper officer of customs or senior officer of customs who is a Singapore preclearance officer.
Any conduct engaged in outside Singapore within a Singapore designated area of a cross-border railway and involving any section 38 import prohibited goods that, if engaged in within Singapore, would constitute an offence under any provision of this Act as modified by this section, is to be treated for the purposes of that provision as if the person engaged in that conduct in Singapore.
A person who engaged in any conduct mentioned in subsection (3) may be tried and punished for that conduct by a court in Singapore.
However, any provision of this Act that authorises any officer of customs or proper officer of customs or senior officer of customs to arrest a person does not apply to or in relation to any individual who engaged in any conduct mentioned in subsection (3) until the person is within Singapore.
officer of customs
“officer of customs” means —(a)the Director‑General;(b)any Deputy Director‑General of Customs or Assistant Director‑General of Customs appointed under section 4(2);(c)any senior officer of customs appointed under section 4(4);(d)any officer of customs appointed under section 5(2); and(e)any police officer;
To be clear, it does not matter whether the conduct engaged in constitutes an offence under the laws of Malaysia, and this section does not affect sections 39 and 40 of the Cross-Border Railways (Border Control Co-location) Act 2026.
To be clear, nothing in this section authorises the collection, within any Singapore designated area of a cross-border railway, of any taxes, customs duties and excise duties on any goods imported into the customs territory.
goods
“goods” includes animals, birds, fish, plants and all kinds of movable property;
In this section —
“cross-border railway”, “Singapore designated area” and “Singapore preclearance officer” have the meanings given by section 3(1) of the Cross-Border Railways (Border Control Co-location) Act 2026;
“pre-clearance procedures” and “pre-cleared train journey” have the meanings given by section 36D of the Immigration Act 1959;
“section 38 import prohibited goods” means dutiable goods the import of which is prohibited, either conditionally or absolutely, by notification made under section 38.
dutiable goods
“dutiable goods” means any goods subject to the payment of customs duty or excise duty on entry into customs territory or manufactured in Singapore (including any free trade zone) and on which customs duty or excise duty has not been paid and includes goods manufactured in a free trade zone from materials of a class dutiable on entry into customs territory for consumption within the customs territory;