The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia has reportedly announced that travelers entering or departing Malaysia must complete customs declaration forms from now.

Chester Voo, CEO of CAAM, stated that the RMCD (Royal Malaysian Customs Department) had indicated in a letter dated September 5 that Section 103 of the Customs Act 1967 requires the declaration of Customs Form No. 7 (K7).

Regardless of any other provisions of this Act, any traveler or other person entering or departing Malaysia must disclose all dutiable or illegal items in their possession to the appropriate customs officer, whether they are in their person, their luggage, or their vehicle.

On Tuesday, Captain Voo stated that in compliance with Regulation No. 55 of the Customs Regulation 2019, each traveler or any other person entering in or departing from Malaysia shall declare in Form Customs No.7 in the Third Schedule.

No explanations were provided for the return of this long-ago-abandoned practice.

According to Captain Voo, all airlines flying into Malaysia must inform every passenger on board of the need.

To comply with the regulations of these provisions for travelers in Malaysia by air, RMCD has asked all air carriers entering Malaysia to make an announcement to all travelers on the provision to fill in Form K7 and send it to the customs duty officer at the airport.

CAAM has even given a test announcement to be made before the flight arrives in Malaysia, stating that every arriving visitor must declare all prohibited and dutiable goods along with currencies or other monetary instruments amounting to over US$10,000 (RM45,000) in their ownership. False declarations or omissions to declare are illegal under Malaysian law.

It is unclear, though, whether all passengers must complete the form or just those carrying dutiable items or money amounting to over US$10,000.

Prior to the implementation of this directive, all travelers were only required to verbally declare to customs authorities any dutiable products, forbidden items, or any amount over US$10,000. Some visitors were also randomly checked.

Source credit: https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/travellers-will-now-have-to-fill-in-customs-forms-upon-arrival-or-departure-malaysia