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What do you do when you find yourself face to face
with hungry crocodiles waiting for lunch?
Mr Tan Juan Fook found himself in such a situation
more than 15 years ago. Although he was safe from
the crocodiles which were enclosed behind 5-feet
high walls, he can never forget the sight of the
feeding frenzy that took place right before him.
Juan Fook is a Customs Specialist from the Rules
of Origin Unit of the Singapore Customs. His job
requires him to issue Certificates of Origin (COs)
to eligible companies so that their products can
enter overseas markets with a reduced tariff, thus
improving the competitive edge of the products.
Before issuing a CO, he ensures that the company’s
products meet the Rules of Origin (specific requirements)
of the respective CO schemes to qualify as Singapore-origin
products. To this end, he visits manufacturers and
farmers that wish to apply for the CO when they
export.
He has been to many places such as crocodile and
fish farms, chemical plants, pharmaceutical companies,
food factories and electronics companies to check
that the necessary facilities, processes and manufacturing
capabilities are in place.
To date, more than 2,000 companies are registered
with the Singapore Customs and obtained their COs.
Relating his experience at the crocodile farm, Juan
Fook said: “Back then in the 80s, Singapore
was the beneficiary of the Japan Generalised System
of Preference (GSP) Scheme, which allows imports
from Singapore to be exempted from duties in Japan.
There were many affluent Japanese tourists who came
to Singapore and bought leather products worth thousands
of dollars. The owner of the farm wanted the GSP
CO so that the tourists would not have to pay any
import duties when they returned to Japan.”
Besides catching a live crocodile feeding show,
Juan Fook learnt about the farm operations which
included incubating crocodile eggs, hatching them,
breeding the young and finally skinning them.
He said: “Other than the above experience,
I enjoy visits to manufacturing plants especially
those which allow me to visualise how a product
can be converted from raw materials to the end product.”
Another key aspect of Juan Fook’s work is
representing Singapore in free trade agreement (FTA)
negotiations. He has been involved in FTA negotiations
with India, Japan, Korea and the US.
Juan Fook works with the Ministry of Trade and Industry
to craft the Rules of Origin in the interest of
exporters so that they can benefit from the FTAs.
He has gone on many overseas trips for work and
finds FTA negotiations challenging and invigorating.
“As far as negotiation goes, it’s never
easy because we have to know our thresholds such
as our opening and bottomline positions. At the
same time, we need to know our counterparts’
proposal. We must be very thorough in our work and
fully prepared to answer questions off the cuff.”
Sharing a memorable, nerve-racking experience, he
said: “There was a particular instance when
a round of negotiations was almost at a standstill.
We had told them we could not meet their requirements,
but they couldn’t understand why. Then one
of them threw their proposed rules across the table
and asked us to interpret them. So they were challenging
us, questioning our competence. If we were not prepared,
we would stumble and our integrity and competency
would be in question.
“At that moment, it was very stressful. The
whole table was looking at me because I was the
technical expert. Fortunately I had done my homework
and could answer the question.”
Juan Fook has been facilitating trade for close
to 20 years. Whether it is facing hungry crocodiles
or demanding trade officials, he takes his work
in his stride.
Summing up why he enjoys his line so much, he said:
“I derive great job satisfaction when I am
aware that I am actually helping fellow Singaporeans
to export our Singapore-origin products overseas
successfully.” |
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