Effective June 16, the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) will require nationwide electronic filing of informal entries for non-commercial air shipments using the single administrative document (SAD) form.
The policy will, however, be first implemented at the collection districts of Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Clark, and Cebu, according to Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No 14-2016 issued on June 2. The Customs commissioner will announce the date of implementation in other airports through a memorandum order addressed to collectors.
The CMO is aimed at effecting a smooth transition to e-filing coursed through accredited value-added service providers (VASPs) from the current procedure of manual filing.
It covers filing of informal entries for non-commercial shipments discharged at all airports nationwide, and encompasses the following: air consignments carried either as airfreight or as baggage by air express operators and airfreight forwarders and consolidators, except prohibited/regulated imports under Philippine laws; dangerous goods; animal, fish, or fowl either live or frozen; foodstuff and highly perishable items; human remains or cadavers; coins, cash, paper money, and other forms of negotiable instruments equivalent to cash; and personal effects of balikbayans (returning Filipinos), overseas Filipino workers, and travellers.
Under the guidelines, declarants or customs brokers must lodge the informal entry via SAD and through VASPs, subject to regulations on value, weight and commodity limitations for informal entries.
“Shipments that do not qualify for informal entry under existing regulations shall be lodged under the formal entry,” the order noted. Shipments lodged under informal entry-SAD (IE-SAD) and later on are disqualified from the informal entry system must be reported to the VASP as cancelled.
The IE-SAD, which replaces the informal entry declaration form, should be filled up by the declarant/customs broker through the VASP system, and manually processed by the Informal Entry Division, the guidelines state.
BOC fees like documentary stamp fee, duties and taxes and import processing fee have to be settled at the BOC Cashier.
An informal entry SAD covers only one house airway bill. – Roumina Pablo
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