The list of requirements and procedures needed to clear regulated goods from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has recently been updated and placed onto a single platform available online on the Philippine National Trade Repository (PNTR) website (www.pntr.gov.ph).
The BOC, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and World Bank (WB) have updated the Customs Regulated Imports List (CRIL), which lists more than 7,000 regulated import products, their corresponding import regulations, and the permits required by relevant trade regulatory agencies. Released on April 6, 2015, the list was first created by BOC, assisted by the United States Agency for International Development, during the time of former Customs Commissioner John Sevilla.
Previously, the list was in an Excel file available for download on the BOC website.
Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group deputy commissioner Atty. Edward James Dy Buco, in a presentation during the Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. 28th National Convention on November 9 in Cebu City, said updating the CRIL is “in line with the bureau’s mandate to establish and promote a secure business environment for everyone.”
With CRIL, Dy Buco said stakeholders and customs frontliners have a uniform list of permits needed from a trade regulatory agency to clear a regulated import shipment. He said this will address the problem of some frontliners having to ask for additional permits–which may not be needed in the first place–as well as delays in processing of import shipments.
Dy Buco noted that with a single listing, debates between customs personnel and stakeholders regarding the required permits for a commodity can finally end.
Before CRIL was created, importers and traders of regulated products were in the dark as to what permits to apply for since there was no single source of information regarding this.
Pre-CRIL, too, BOC frontliners could only rely on information based on experience or just advised importers to check with various other trade regulatory government agencies.
After CRIL was implemented in 2015, improvements have been recorded in the use of BOC’s selectivity system, which categorizes imports and is part of BOC’s risk management system, according to assistant commissioner Atty Vincent Philip Maronilla in 2017 at a forum organized by the British Chamber of Commerce. At the time, Maronilla was still district collector at the Manila International Container Port.
Before CRIL was released, data from November 2014 showed that shipments on the green lane accounted for 15% of the total, those on the yellow lane accounted for 53%, those on the red lane 24%, and those on the super green lane 8%, Maronilla said.
In June 2015, two months after CRIL was implemented, cargoes on the green lane increased to 40%, yellow lane shipments dropped to 33%, the volume of cargoes on the red lane fell to 19%, and super green lane shipments remained at 8%, he added.
In line with implementing CRIL, Dy Buco said BOC frontliners will be trained on how to use the PNTR website when checking the list of required permits, and customs employees will also undergo refreshment seminars on commodity familiarization.
Previous efforts to update the list took time because of the difficulty in gathering information from the 50 active trade regulatory agencies out of the total 56, Dy Buco noted.
To keep CRIL constantly updated, Dy Buco said BOC is working with DTI and WB on a policy that if a certain trade regulatory agency does not update its data on the PNTR, any permit not listed on the platform will not be honored or required from the importer by BOC.
To access CRIL on the PNTR website, click the Commodity Search tab, input the Harmonized System (HS) code or description of the commodity that needs checking and click Search. This will lead to a list of related commodities in HS codes, which can be clicked on for more details. Details provided are the relevant trade regulatory agency/agencies and their addresses and contact details, the legal basis for the permit/requirement, the necessary permits/clearances/certifications, the requirements and corresponding procedures, and the non-tariff measures that may affect importation of the commodity. Also available are tariff schedules for the commodity. – Roumina Pablo
