THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) will implement an accreditation scheme for oil importers and ports in order to mitigate oil smuggling.
“The Bureau of Customs shall carry out the accreditation of all importers of crude oil and petroleum products. All import terminals or landing ports for such importations shall also be required to undergo an accreditation procedure by the bureau,” Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima said.
“The Bureau of Customs shall also require as a prerequisite for such accreditation prior DOE (Department of Energy) accreditation of such entities/persons,” Purisima added.
The DOE shall require as a condition for its accreditation of importers of oil and operators of import terminals, a six-month importation plan or a rolling importing forecast plus a distribution or retailing plan.
In addition, the agency will set up monitoring or reporting systems and draw information from source countries through agreements with counterpart agencies abroad.
Purisima said the Department of Justice has also been tasked to fast track the hearing of oil smuggling-related cases filed by the BOC.
The Department of Trade and Industry, on the other hand, will monitor export of oil and petroleum products vis-à-vis the grant of Board of Investment registration and endorsement for incentives.
All the measures shall be laid out in a memorandum of agreement to be signed by the agencies, including the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
The BOC earlier accredited six survey firms to determine the actual volume of oil coming into the country and for monitoring importers. They are SGS, Cotecna, Intertek, Bureau Veritas, Inspectorate International and Admiral Testing Service.
