The Customs Airport Command of Hong Kong had introduced a number of measures to improve its service, said a spokesman for the Customs and Excise Department November 21.

Among the measures is the publication of a pamphlet on reasons for search of baggage.

"The distribution of the pamphlet, one of our measures introduced to enhance the communication between passengers and our staff, could give passengers more information on our work and reduce misunderstanding in the course of Customs clearance," the spokesman explained.

Conducting personal search on passengers was another crucial factor triggering customer dissatisfaction, he noted.

"We have published and placed inside our search rooms a booklet in 20 languages explaining to passengers the purpose of personal search, the laws, procedures, their rights and the venue of complaint," he said.

He said the department had arranged training in Thai, Japanese and Putonghua to customs officers to overcome the language barrier, which hindered communication with passengers.

"More other foreign language courses, including Nepalese, will be arranged soon," he said.

Apart from attending language courses, 50 front-line officers have also attended anti-corruption and staff integrity briefings, organized by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, to refresh anti-corruption concept and to enhance integrity ideas among customs officers.

"In order to motivate front-line officers to strive for the best, we have initiated two competitions at the airport -- the " Distinguished Customer Service Awards" for baggage examination counter officers and the "Best Service Awards" for cargo examiners, " he said.

He also said the Customs Dog Team played an important role in drugs detection.

"To make the drugs detector dogs discharge duties more efficiently, the department is now launching a 'passive dog training' program," he said.

By introducing such training, drugs detector dogs will be deployed to conduct close passenger screening duties.

"This is the first time that we engage passive dogs. For further improvement, our dog handlers will attend training courses relating to passive dogs in Japan," he added.

The passive dogs will stay calmly next to any suspicious objects in which dangerous drugs were found.

To enhance the efficiency in cargo examination, the customs plans to install sophisticated facilities.

"We shall acquire mobile X-ray vans equipped with Ionscanner, which enables our officers to perform cargo examination duties more efficiently. It will allow customs officers to provide service at the spot without moving cargo to customs examination area," he said.

Other development which facilitates the air cargo industry will be the implementation of Air Cargo Clearance System (ACCS) Phase III in February 2000, he said.

When ACCS Phase III comes to operate, the time used in processing outbound and breakdown cargo will be tremendously reduced. (Xinhua)