KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 22 (Bernama) -- e-registration, an electronic submissionsystem, will mutually benefit the palm oil industry and the Malaysian PalmOil Board (MPOB), said its head of trade development unit, Jamil Nordin.

He said that although the hype on dot com companies had subsided somewhatrecently, it could not be denied that the usage of Information andCommunications Technology (ICT) is set to grow.

Therefore Jamil said: "The oils and fats sector, and in particular thepalm oil sector, has to adapt to the changing global business scenario, ifit is not to be left behind."

He said this in his paper "e-registration In The Palm Oil Trade" at the2001 International Palm Oil Congress (20012 PIPOC) which ends today. Thethree-day congress is organised by the MPOB.

The system would create a more efficient platform for the registration ofcontracts by reducing cost, errors and delays resulting from thepreparation and submission of contracts using the fax and telexcommunication medium, he said.

For MPOB, Jamil said e-registration will facilitate access to thecontracts registered, provide for much greater quality, reduce thecontract processing cost and enhance the timeliness of the priceinformation to the industry.

He said that the system would be fine-tuned from time to time to enhanceits efficiency based on the feedback from the industry and evolvingtechnology in the ICT sector.

"In the future, we hope to garner the full support of the licensees torealise a paperless registration of contracts by the industry," he said.

This is because the success of e-registration is dependent on the supportof the industry to change from the present method of registering theircontracts with MPOB.

Sometimes, Jamil said assumptions are made that when there are onlineservices such as e-registration, licensees will use it.

"However, some licensees may be sceptical about it," he noted.

Thus, the biggest challenges facing MPOB is trying to convince licenseesto switch to e-registration as a more efficient alternative to registertheir daily contracts, he added.

-- BERNAMA