THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) is finalizing the implementation of Phase II of its electronic-to-mobile (E2M) project to meet the deadline for the full completion of the project within the first half of the year.
Customs deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo told PortCalls E-Konek Pilipinas, one of the BOC’s value-added service providers (VASP), will likely be the first VASP to service BOC clients for Phase II this month.
He said E-Konek needs to work on one minor technical error before getting BOC accreditation.
#8220;It will be green and go for Phase II this month. (We will) probably start Phase III or the export sector automation also within March or April,” Arevalo, who also chairs the VASP accreditation committee, explained.
“We are facilitating the implementation of the E2M project to also beat the deadline for the live exchange of data between the Philippines, Thailand and probably Korea for the implementation of the Single-Window Transaction in the second half of the year,” he added.
“However, as of now, we are concentrating on the inward foreign manifest requirement and the lodgment of entries and will finish these in the early part of the month,” Arevalo said.
Phase II includes the client profile registration system, electronic license and clearance system, electronic payment system and online release system, and Phase III the export automatic lodgment, raw material liquidation, bonds management system among others.
Apart from E-Konek, the two other accredited VASPs — InterCommerce Network Service and Cargo Data Exchange Center — are in the preliminary testing of their system but also expect Phase II accreditation shortly.
A fourth VASP applicant, Crimson Logic Philippines, has passed technical evaluation under Phase I and will soon be issued accreditation by the VASP accreditation secretariat.
