BROKERAGE houses and freight forwarding companies expecting to transact with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) using their corporate tax identification number (TIN) under Republic Act 9280 will have to think again. This after the BOC adopted a measure that only corporate entries approved by a licensed and accredited customs brokers will be processed by the agency.
Pitching in for Customs chief Napoleon Morales as inducting officer for the new Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) board last Friday, BOC deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo revealed the BOC computers will only accept individual TINs.
“;We are now developing a system that only broker-signed entries will be read by the new operating system of the BOC,Ó Arevalo revealed in a speech, to the joy of the members of the CCBI.
“;This measure is to best align our system to the conditions provided in RA 9280 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004,Ó Arevalo stressed.
The BOC and the CCBI have started talks on the use of individual brokers in customs entries to ensure that no other entries, unless approved by an individual broker, will be processed.
The BOC has informed the Professional Regulatory Board for Customs Brokers about the measure in a meeting last week and will meet again in the next few days to strike an agreement for its implementation.
The agency has also discounted effects of the proposed amendment to RA 9280 by both Houses of Congress as both measures require signatures of individual brokers in entries filed by corporations.
The BOC is anticipating completion of the new system by the second half of the year in time.
RA 9280, officially enacted last April30, 2004, regulates the practice of the customs brokers profession and prohibits corporate practice of customs brokerage.
Section 29 of the law specifically provides that the customs broker practice is a professional service and as such, “;no firm, company, or association may be registered or licensed as such for the practice of customs broker professionÓ.
In addition, Section 28 provides that no person shall practice or offer to practice the profession, or use the title unless one is a registered licensed customs broker.
