The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has released the list of 204 importers and customs brokers that must renew their accreditation with the agency this February in order to continue transacting with the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
In an advisory, BIR said the 17 customs brokers and 187 importers, whose Broker’s Clearance Certificates (BCCs) and Importer’s Clearance Certificates (ICCs) will be expiring from March 3 to May 30, are scheduled to renew their clearance certificates between February 1 and February 28.
Under the rules set by Department of Finance (DOF) in 2014, securing the BCC and ICC from BIR’s Accounts Receivable Monitoring Division is the first step a customs broker or importer must take to be accredited then be allowed to transact with the BOC. DOF is the mother agency of both BIR and BOC.
The ICC and BCC must be renewed and submitted to BOC every three years.
In September last year, BIR issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 56-2016, which orders that the ICC and BCC be processed and released within five working days of submission of complete documents by applicants. This is an improvement on the 15 working days prescribed by RMO No. 10-2014, which was issued in 2014 after DOF changed the rules on importer and customs broker accreditation.
The BIR memo also revises some provisions of RMO No. 10-2014 and streamlines the procedure for ICC and BCC application.
According to BOC Accounts Management Office chief Mary Grace Malabed, BOC is in the initial stages of drafting a new accreditation rule that abides by the provisions of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, the new law that overhauled the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines.
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