The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is confident it can meet Philippine commitments to the World Trade Organization’s Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA) if it comes into force, explaining that the pact will improve Philippine customs processes and encourage small businesses to join mainstream trade.
The customs bureau has already submitted 28 provisions under Category A of the WTO FTA, one of the highest among member countries, Lina said in a statement made during a recent Philippine Institute for Supply Management general membership meeting.
The WTO FTA, which was adopted in Bali, Indonesia in 2013, promotes the faster movement, release, and clearance of goods, including those in transit. It also aims to improve cooperation between customs and other authorities engaged in trade facilitation and customs compliance.
Once in force, WTO said, the agreement is expected to reduce total trade costs by more than 14% for low-income countries and more than 13% for upper middle-income countries by streamlining trade flow across borders.
Category A involves commitments for immediate undertaking by member states; the Philippines submitted in 2014 the 28 provisions under Section I of the TFA, or the Publication and Availability of Information.
Lina said the agreement “complements the government’s initiatives to improve customs operations and will greatly benefit our country’s small and medium sized enterprises that participate in trade.”
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He added that “together with special and differential treatment provisions, the trade facilitation agreement will complement the Philippines’ initiatives to institute domestic customs administration reforms towards a more efficient and streamlined mechanism for traders, while respecting implementation capacities.”
“Transparent and streamlined customs procedures will encourage new and innovative SMEs to enter the mainstream of trade,” Lina said.
Apart from the WTO FTA, the customs chief said the agency has completed commitments or is working, independently or with other trade facilitation agencies, on various agreements, programs, and other efforts toward making customs procedures more transparent and improving trade facilitation within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region.
These deals include the ASEAN Customs Agreement; the Philippine National Single Window; Self Certification System under the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement; Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) Concept, which is part of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) soon to be signed into law; Electronic Certificate of Origin (COO); the Enhanced Philippine Tariff Finder; and the Philippine National Trade Repository.
Lina said the guidelines and support infrastructure for the AEO program, an initiative mandated under the CMTA, are being readied for application by the customs bureau.
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BOC will also launch in the coming months the COO program, which is a secure online system for the electronic issuance and acceptance of COOs. Lina said BOC is “just making the necessary adjustment in our technology infrastructure” so it can implement the program. – Roumina Pablo
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