The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) reminded its officials that manual processing of transhipments from one Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) locator to another is allowed whenever the electronic-to-mobile (E2m) system bogs down.
In an unnumbered memorandum dated February 1, Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina instructed district and port collectors to “approve manual process every time there is E2m slow down for more than 30 minutes or down time of more than two hours after confirmation with the assigned MISTG (Management Information System and Technology Group) Site Team in your respective port.”
Lina said the order is “in the exigency of the service and in order to avoid delays in the release of shipments of the locators of the economic zones.”
If there is no assigned MISTG Site Team, collectors can confirm with the MISTG Helpdesk Main Office.
Moreover, strict compliance with the provisions of PEZA-BOC Joint Memorandum Order (JMO) No. 1-2015 Section 9 (Manual Filing of Transshipment Entries) is required, Lina added.
Since May last year, all PEZA locators importing goods from any port of discharge for transhipment to any PEZA location have been required to file a transhipment entry through the E2m at the port of discharge.
Under Section 9 of the JMO, manual filing is only allowed if the deputy commissioner of BOC’s MISTG certifies that the E2m system has been down for more than two hours.
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