Stakeholders in the logistics services sector, who have to apply for accreditation with multiple agencies in order to operate, are urging the Philippine government to create a single accreditation process as one of the measures to ease doing business and reduce operating costs in the sector.
Another recommendation is for a thorough review of issuances that serve as bases for the requirements that logistics services providers (LSP) have to comply with to be able to operate, such as accreditations by different government agencies and pass-through fees imposed on trucks by local government units.
The suggestions were raised in a discussion called by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Competitiveness Bureau (CB) to tackle regulations and procedures that adversely affect the ease and cost of doing business for LSPs, pulling down the competitiveness of the sector.
“We invited industry leaders and together we tackled the issues regarding excessive and redundant requirements to do business in the logistics sector. We came up with an inventory of permits and licenses that a logistics services provider must secure first to be able to conduct a business,” DTI Undersecretary Rowel S. Barba said in a statement.
“During the discussion, we determined several permits and licenses that are not necessary or simply redundant, which add ups to the length of time and cost of compliance. These make our LSPs less competitive,” Barba added.
Some of the permits include the accreditation issued by DTI for sea freight forwarders, accreditation by Philippine Economic Zone Authority for truckers, and accreditation by Civil Aeronautics Board for air freight forwarders.
DTI said both the government and the logistics services sector agreed on the need to review existing regulations to eliminate red tape, and to submit the inventory of permits and licenses covering LSPs to the Anti-Red Tape Authority for review and action.
The issues and recommendations during the focus group discussion will be presented in a panel discussion that will form part of the first Logistics Services Philippines Conference and Exhibition on December 6 to 7, 2018 at the Philippine International Convention Center. Panel members include representatives from the Bureau of Customs, Department of Transportation, Department of Interior and Local Government, and other government agencies.
The Logistics Services Philippines Conference and Exhibition is spearheaded by the DTI-CB in partnership with the Board of Investments, Export Marketing Bureau, and Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions. PortCalls and its sister publication Asia Customs & Trade are the event’s exclusive media partners.
