The Bureau of Customs (BOC) Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG) is working to finish this month the automated system that will make it easier to countercheck the list of importable items, a policy currently on hold.
MISTG deputy commissioner Jeffrey Ian Dy told PortCalls in an interview that Customs Commissioner Isidro Lapeña has given his group until end of August to create the automated system that will make the list of importables searchable in BOC’s electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.
BOC in a memorandum last March required importers to provide a list of importables with clear description in technical and tariff terms, and estimated volumes for the next 12 months, as part of the customs bureau’s requirement for registration. This requirement is not new as the list of importables has been a requirement for registration at BOC since 2014.
The March 2018 memorandum, however, ordered district and sub-port collectors, deputy collectors for assessment, chiefs and personnel of the Formal Entry Division, importers/consignees, customs brokers, and all other concerned parties to countercheck the approved list before processing an import entry.
Additional items on the list of importables also required approval from BOC’s Account Management Office prior to importation.
The policy, intended to weed out consignees-for-hire and ensure that only items on the approved list are imported, was suspended last April “due to the sheer volume of importers requesting for relevant documents and complying with the directives of the said order.”
BOC suspended the requirement to countercheck the list of importables prior to processing an entry; the list of importables, however, remains a requirement when applying for registration with BOC.
Dy explained that completing the system took longer than the initial target of one month as it entailed digitizing “hundreds and hundreds of HS codes being populated inside e2m for each particular importer.”
He noted that under current rules, almost 80% of commodities and products can be imported into the country, which means MISTG needs to input most of the HS codes into e2m. He added there are difficulties in doing this as the e2m has been operating for some time without maintenance, making it difficult to include more functions. – Roumina Pablo
