The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is now pilot testing the Cargo Targeting System (CTS), a World Customs Organization (WCO) enterprise solution, which will allow for identification of high-risk shipments and facilitation of trade.
CTS will be fully implemented by the third week of October.
As provided by the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), the BOC will require shipping lines to submit manifests through the CTS following mandated timelines. CTS will allow for advance profiling of shipments before their arrival at Philippine ports, using the manifest data given by shipping lines and airlines.
BOC said the advance cargo information electronically submitted by foreign carriers or their authorized agents may be used for profiling, risk assessment, anti-terrorism, law enforcement and other related purposes.
Leo Morada, chief executive officer of BOC-accredited value-added service provider Cargo Data Exchange Center, Inc., told PortCalls in text messages that CDEC has prepared shipping lines for CTS.
He noted CDEC has been continuously transmitting to CTS, and that technical issues “have been resolved.”
CTS is an enterprise solution developed by WCO which allows its member-countries to adopt international best practice in cargo risk assessment, thus implementing key parts of the WCO’s SAFE Framework of Standards and the Kyoto Convention.
WCO has long provided BOC with the CTS but the system has never been used in the Philippines.
BOC Management Information System and Technology Group deputy commissioner Allan Geronimo earlier told PortCalls the customs bureau is developing consolidated guidelines for submission of required documents through the CTS; the electronic-to-mobile system; and the Advance Manifest System (AMS), a system similar to CTS but whose implementation is on hold.
READ: PH Customs eyes more automation projects
He explained that the AMS covers manifest declarations for air and sea shipments, while the CTS is mainly for sea. The AMS allows supporting documents to be submitted in PDF, which cannot be done in CTS.
Some stakeholders’ organizations last July were invited for a consultation on the draft customs memorandum order that will implement BOC rules and regulations on the CTS.
