Philippine customs stakeholders now need to check with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for the official exchange rate on which to base the computation of duties and taxes, according to a recent memorandum by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
“The exchange rate officially disseminated to the public by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas each Wednesday shall be the exchange rate to be adopted the following day, Thursday, up to Wednesday of the following week,” according to Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 15-2016, which was signed by Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina on June 10.
“In the event that there is no officially published exchanged rate on a Wednesday, the latest rate published by BSP prior to that Wednesday shall apply,” it added.
CMO 15-2016 amends the first and second procedures prescribed by CMO 14-2002 (applicable exchange rate for assessment purposes), which was signed in March 2002. Previously under CMO 14-2002, BOC’s Management Information System and Technology Group was responsible for obtaining the exchange rate from BSP and publishing it through a memorandum circular.
The exchange rates can be found on the BSP’s website bsp.gov.ph.
All other rules and procedures under CMO 14-2002 remain unchanged, CMO 15-2016 said.
As a standard procedure, the prevailing exchange rate for the week on the date of entry lodgement is used as basis in computing the duties and taxes of a particular shipment for consumption and warehousing entries.
