THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is eyeing the automation of penalty payments under the electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system to ensure the fine goes straight to government coffers.
BOC admitted the current manual process for late submission of electronic manifests is prone to corruption.
At the electronic manifest orientation seminar organized by customs value-added service provider (VASP) Cargo Data Exchange Center last week, BOC System Management Division head Noemi Gonzales said the planned payment system will likely be similar to the auto debit payment of duties and taxes.
But until the process is in place, “we are urging stakeholders to ask for a manual receipt for the payment of their penalties,” Gonzales said.
“Also we are looking at putting a safety net in order not to unduly penalize stakeholders that can satisfactorily justify the late submission of their manifests,” she added.
At the moment, BOC penalizes forwarders non-compliant with the six-hour prior to vessel arrival rule in the submission of their consolidated cargo manifests.
The slapping of penalties for late submission of manifests is not as strict as long as forwarders submit the following to the Deputy Collector for Operations for validation: letter of request explaining why the submission was late; user service request; and the evaluation duly noted by the Management Information System and Technology Group.
Accepted reasons for late submission include technical issues, and shipping lines’ failure to register the manifest.
Penalties range from P10,000 for the first offense; P20,000 for the second offense; and P30,000 for the third offense or for those that fail to submit or validate their manifest after the six-hour window.
BOC said the “first attempt” reason for late submission will only be valid as long as this is followed by a series of actions to validate why an error occurred during the submission of manifests within the six-hour period. Some stakeholders are apparently exploiting the situation to do away with penalties.
