The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has revised its guidelines for the issuance of Certificate of Origin (CO) Form A under the European Union Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) in order to avoid delays in express delivery services.
Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG) Memorandum No. 041-2016 dated May 11 states that the date indicated in Box 12 (export declaration) of the CO Form A must be “on or before” the date of shipment written in the bill of lading/airway bill.
The memo, signed by AOCG officer-in-charge Juvy Danofrata, revises Article 2 of AOCG Memorandum No. 033A-2016. The article provides the guidelines for issuing the CO Form A under the EU GSP.
The revision was requested by Ambassador Franz Jessen, head of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, in a letter to BOC on May 10.
Jessen said the EU’s Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union appreciated the issuance of AOCG Memorandum No. 033A-2016 by BOC. But it “puts a de facto time delay by stating that the date on box 12 (Exporter Declaration) in the Certificate of Origin Form A must be earlier than the date of shipment in the bill of lading/airway bill. While this is indeed as intended according to the EU regulation, that regulation does not specify this should be a full, separate, day. By interpreting the rules as such, express delivery services (who usually do both in one day, thus including Box 11 and Box 12) are faced with unnecessary delays,” Jessen explained.
The ambassador requested the amendment of Article 2 so it specifies the date in Box 12 as “on or before” the date of shipment because “this way the above situation would be covered and you can still follow the order of things (but during the same day).”
The Philippines is a beneficiary of the EU’s GSP program where 2,442 products are exported at zero duty to the EU, while 3,767 carry reduced tariffs. In December 2014, the country was granted GSP+ status, in which over 6,200 tariff lines from the Philippines are allowed to enter the European Union market duty free.
The claim for GSP treatment must be supported with the appropriate documentary evidence, which is the GSP Certificate of Origin Form A.
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