THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will soon sign a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Shippers’ Bureau (PSB) designed to eliminate fly-by-night freight forwarders.
Specifically, the agreement requires that only PSB-accredited forwarders be allowed to transact and secure accreditation from the BOC, particularly in the filing of informal entries under the electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.
“We are negotiating with PSB to provide us a list of their accredited forwarders which will be our basis for accreditation in our e2m system,” Customs commissioner Napoleon Morales said.
“The PSB accreditation will be the barometer for all freight forwarders,” Morales, who is expected to tender his courtesy resignation to the new President on June 30, added.
“We have to do this as some freight forwarders are taking advantage of the relaxed informal entry processes to the detriment of stakeholders,” he said, noting that BOC personnel have already apprehended some cargo consolidators at the Manila International Container Port misdeclaring cargoes in the informal entry division, thus affecting the processing of other cargoes in the same batch.
Informal entry procedures may generally be used for shipments not exceeding $2,000 in value and imported by express consignment operators and carriers. Informal entries cover personal, commercial and mail shipments being entered for consumption, i.e. for use or sale.
