A K3 is Customs Form No. 3, titled Declaration to Transport Goods Within Malaysia. You file it to move duty-paid or tax-paid goods between Peninsular Malaysia, Labuan, Sabah and Sarawak by sea or air, and for a sea leg inside a single territory. A K4 is not a K3 variant: it is the carrier's inward or outward manifest, filed by the vessel's master or aircraft's pilot, or their agent.
Key takeaways
- The K3 is prescribed by regulation 12 of the Customs Regulations 2019 [P.U. (A) 397], in force since 1 January 2020.
- A “territory” means Peninsular Malaysia, the Federal Territory of Labuan, Sabah or Sarawak — four territories, and state borders are irrelevant. Labuan is also a duty free island, so check regulations 15 and 16.
- Regulation 12(4) also treats movement by sea between two places inside one territory as transportation, so a Peninsular coastal leg is in scope too.
- The K4 is the vessel or aircraft agent's inward or outward manifest under regulation 9(1). Cargo owners never file it.
- Loading without customs supervision carries a fine of up to RM50,000, up to a year's imprisonment, or both.
What is a K3 form in Malaysian customs?
The K3 is one of the declaration forms in the Third Schedule to the Customs Regulations 2019 [P.U. (A) 397], made under section 142 of the Customs Act 1967 [Act 235] and in operation since 1 January 2020. Its printed Malay title is Perakuan Untuk Mengangkut Barang Dalam Malaysia.
It sits in Part V, headed Transportation of Goods Between Territory. The K3 is not an import or export document: it lets already-cleared cargo cross an internal customs boundary while staying inside Malaysia. Our guide to customs clearance in Malaysia covers the border stage before it.
When do you need a K3 form?
Regulation 12(1) sets the trigger. Where an owner wants to transport goods on which customs duty or tax has been paid from one territory to another, whether or not through a free zone, the owner or the appointed agent must submit Form Customs No. 3 to the proper officer of customs at the place where the goods are intended to be transported, with the documents that officer requires.
Two definitions inside regulation 12(4) decide almost every real case, and most published explanations skip both. First, “territory” means Peninsular Malaysia, the Federal Territory of Labuan, Sabah or Sarawak. Selangor to Johor crosses no territory boundary. Port Klang to Kota Kinabalu crosses one.
Second, “transportation” means moving goods from one territory to another within Malaysia by sea or air, and it also includes transportation by sea from one place to another place within the same territory. That second limb catches people out: a coastal sea leg entirely inside Peninsular Malaysia still falls under the regulation. On the East Malaysia lanes, cabotage rules decide which vessel may carry the box; the K3 governs the paperwork travelling with it.
Labuan needs one further check. It is also a “duty free island” under regulation 2, and regulations 15 and 16 put movement between a duty free island and the principal customs area on Form Customs No. 1 and Form Customs No. 2 respectively. Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak are therefore the clean K3 lanes; a Labuan leg has to be read against regulations 15 and 16 as well as regulation 12.
Is a K4 form the same as a K3?
Customs Form No. 4 is titled Manifes Masuk/Keluar/Kapal Tempatan / Inward/Outward Manifest/Local Craft — the carrier's manifest, not a K3 variant. No: the two are not even filed by the same party. Under regulation 9(1) the master or agent of every vessel and the pilot or agent of every aircraft, including freight forwarders, must submit an inward or outward manifest in Form Customs No. 4.
The same regulation puts transhipment cargo on a transhipment manifest, Form Customs No. 5. Regulation 11 gives the K4 a second job: the declaration of arrival of a local craft under section 54 of the Act, and of departure of a local aircraft under section 58, are both made in Form Customs No. 4.
So a K3 is a cargo owner's movement declaration; a K4 is a conveyance operator's manifest. If a carrier asks for “the K4 details”, it wants shipment data for its own manifest, not a form a cargo owner lodges.
What has to be attached to a K3, and who is liable?
The K3 runs to 39 numbered items, and its printed conditions require four attachments: any other-agency permit the goods are subject to; the invoice; proof of payment showing that duty or tax has been paid; and any other document the proper officer of customs requires. The owner or the appointed agent is liable for the validity of everything declared on it.
The form carries a Movement Permit No. field and an Expiry Date field, so an approved K3 is a time-limited authority, not a standing one. Regulation 12(2) leaves the decision with the officer, who releases the goods once satisfied they are intended for transportation, that any conditional export restriction has been met, and that security has been furnished where export duty is payable.
One scope note: an attached agency approval, such as a SIRIM, MAQIS or MITI document, is obtained by the trader from the issuing agency. DNE Forwarding does not advise on or obtain those. We prepare and lodge the customs declarations: DNE Forwarding (M) Sdn Bhd has been a JKDM-licensed forwarding agent in Klang since 1999, handling 1,000+ containers a month.
What happens if the goods move before customs approves?
Regulation 12(3) is blunt: no goods shall be loaded or water-borne to be shipped, or loaded into an aircraft, for transportation except under the supervision of or under the directions of a proper officer of customs. Contravening it is an offence carrying, on conviction, a fine not exceeding fifty thousand ringgit, imprisonment for up to one year, or both.
The K3's own printed conditions put the same duty on the declarant: the owner or appointed agent shall ensure that the goods are not transported from customs control before an approval is given by the proper officer of customs. In practice the commercial damage lands first, as a box that misses its sailing.
How do K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, K8 and K9 fit together?
K1, K2, K3 and K9 are declarations about the goods themselves, filed by the owner or its agent. K4, K5 and K8 describe a conveyance and its cargo, and are filed by the master, pilot or their agent. All seven are prescribed forms in the Third Schedule to the Customs Regulations 2019. We cover four of them in more depth in our guide to the K1, K2, K8 and K9 Malaysia customs forms.
| Form | Form title / what it covers | Who files it | Prescribed by |
|---|---|---|---|
| K1 | Declaration of Goods Imported | Importer or agent | Regulation 14 |
| K2 | Declaration of Goods to be Exported | Exporter or agent | Regulation 13 |
| K3 | Declaration to Transport Goods Within Malaysia | Owner of the goods or agent | Regulation 12 |
| K4 | Inward/Outward Manifest/Local Craft | Master, pilot or their agent | Regulations 9 and 11 |
| K5 | Transhipment manifest | Master, pilot or their agent | Regulation 9(1)(b) |
| K8 | Declaration for Removal of Goods in Transit | Master, pilot or their agent | Regulation 17 |
| K9 | Declaration of Goods Imported (Partly) — a part removal from customs control | Owner or agent | Regulation 54(1)(b) |
Our comparison of bonded warehouses, free zones and LMWs covers where duty suspension changes this again.
Does transhipment cargo at Port Klang need a K3?
No. Transhipment cargo has paid no Malaysian duty or tax, so regulation 12(1) never engages. Regulation 17(1) instead puts the declaration on the master or pilot, or their agent, who submits Form Customs No. 8 when transhipment goods go to a customs or licensed warehouse at the port of arrival.
That is most of the traffic through Port Klang: of the record 15.14 million TEUs it handled in 2025, transhipment was 8.41 million, roughly 56 per cent (Malay Mail).
“With this achievement, Port Klang has again made history by recording the highest container handling since operations began in 1973”
Anthony Loke Siew Fook, Minister of Transport (Malay Mail, 16 March 2026)
At that scale the K3 and K8 boundary is commercial, not academic: lodge the wrong one and the box waits. Our explainer on transhipment through Port Klang sets out how the routing works.
Frequently asked questions
Is a K3 needed to send goods from Kuala Lumpur to Johor by road?
No. Regulation 12(4) defines transportation as movement between territories by sea or air, plus movement by sea between two places inside one territory. Kuala Lumpur and Johor are both in Peninsular Malaysia, so a road movement crosses no boundary and involves no sea leg. A K3 becomes necessary once the cargo moves by sea or air to Sabah or Sarawak; a Labuan leg has to be read against regulations 15 and 16 as well.
Do I pay import duty again when I file a K3?
No. Regulation 12(1) applies to goods on which customs duty or tax has already been paid, and the form's conditions require proof of that payment as an attachment. The K3 is a movement control, not a second assessment. Where the goods are liable to customs duty on export, regulation 12(2) instead requires security before the officer approves the movement.
Does routing through a free zone remove the need for a K3?
No. Regulation 12(1) requires the declaration where duty-paid or tax-paid goods move from one territory to another “whether or not through a free zone”. The free-zone leg changes nothing about the K3 obligation, so a Port Klang consignment routed that way and heading to Sabah still needs one.
Sources
- Customs Regulations 2019 [P.U. (A) 397] — full gazette text: regulations 2, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 54 and the Third Schedule forms.
- Customs Act 1967 [Act 235], whose section 142 empowers those regulations.
- Malay Mail, 16 March 2026 — Port Klang 2025 throughput.