The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has tightened rules on transshipment with a new order which requires mandatory filing of consumption entry for all imported sea shipments intended for consumption in the customs territory, and in cases where the port of discharge is not the final port of destination.
Such shipments must be “covered by the necessary import entry for immediate consumption, whether formal or informal, which shall be filed at the assessment office at the port of first discharge upon importation into the Philippine territory,” according to Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 28-2015, dated September 1 and signed by Customs commissioner Alberto Lina.
“In such cases, transhipments shall not be allowed and the filing of the entry at the port of final destination shall be prohibited.”
Exempt from the CMO, which is already in effect, are articles imported by accredited locators of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Freeports; goods intended for use by accredited customs bonded warehouses; or those imported for immediate exportation.
In a statement, Atty Agaton Teodoro Uvero, deputy commissioner for Assessment and Operations, said: “This now requires the immediate filing of import entries and the payment of duties and taxes of goods at the port of first discharge instead of the practice of allowing the filing of entry and payment of duties in the port of final destination. To illustrate, the old practice allows cargo discharged in a Manila port to be transhipped to Cebu (as port of final destination) where the import entry will then be filed, and the duties and taxes will be assessed and paid. Under the new rules, the importer will now have to immediately file an import entry and pay duties and taxes in Manila before the same can be transported to Cebu.”
He added, “Transshipments will no longer be allowed and the filing of the entry at the final destination shall be strictly prohibited. That way, we prevent containers from missing during transshipment.”
He told PortCalls that under CMO 28-2015, BOC is adopting “strict application of the law… to prevent another case of 2,000 missing containers.”
Uvero was referring to a 2011 incident when nearly 2,000 container vans were lost in transit from the Port of Manila to the Port of Batangas. That episode cost then customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez his job.
Leo Morada, chief executive officer of BOC-accredited value-added service provider Cargo Data Exchange Center, said the filing of entry for transshipment was previously done at the port of discharge. This meant that if the cargo was hijacked between the first port of discharge to the final port of destination, the BOC has yet to collect on the shipment’s duties and taxes.
He told PortCalls the issuance of the new ruling may mean an attempt at “more effective BOC control” over such shipments. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of nenetus at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
