The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will launch and pilot-test in June an enhanced goods declaration verification system (EGDVS) that will allow stakeholders to file entries and verify their status online.
BOC’s Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG) deputy commissioner Noel Prudente, in a forum with importers and customs brokers on May 10, said EGDVS is phase two of GDVS, which assigns entries randomly to available appraisers and examiners, and allows customs brokers and importers to verify the status of their entries.
GDVS was pilot-tested and implemented at the Manila International Container Terminal and Port of Manila in October 2017 and was formalized under Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 31-2017 issued in December 2017. Through kiosks at the two ports, customs brokers or their representatives are able to check the status of their shipments without needing to ask customs personnel.
EGDVS, meanwhile, will allow stakeholders to check the status of their entries online and not just at kiosks in ports. Another new feature allows importers and customs brokers to upload scanned copies of their entries online. EGDVS is separate from BOC’s electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system. Stakeholders will still need to lodge their entries to the e2m and then upload the scanned copies of entries to the EGDVS and submit hard copies to the Formal Entry Division (FED).
MISTG’s Basilisa Absalon during the forum explained that uploading the scanned copies of entries to EGDVS will become mandatory, as these soft copies will be used by appraisers and examiners to countercheck against lodgement in e2m and the hard copies submitted to FED. The entry will not be processed unless copies are submitted to e2m, FED, and EGDVS.
Absalon said BOC is amending CMO 31-2017, and will issue a new one before the June 2018 implementation of EGDVS and will provide a user’s manual as well. She noted, however, that the June implementation is only a pilot test covering a few ports.
Under EGDVS, entries are assigned to available examiners and appraisers on a first-in, first-out basis. It covers only import consumption entries.
Prudente said EGDVS eradicates the “suki system” and face-to-face transaction between stakeholders and customs appraisers and examiners, in line with Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña’s objective to stop corruption.
He added that the system levels the playing field for stakeholders, as they will not have to worry about their entries not being assessed by appraisers, or not being prioritized despite being filed ahead of the others. Prudente noted that under EGDVS, appraisers and examiners are given a timeline to finish an assessment. If an entry takes too long, it will be transferred to another available appraiser. Appraisers and examiners also cannot take another entry unless they finish a pending entry first.
With EGDVS, BOC will be able to monitor how its appraisers and examiners perform, and how long it takes them to assess an entry. If there are concerns, appraisers and examiners must provide remarks on the pending entry so issues will be resolved. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
