The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) has issued the customs memorandum order (CMO) providing guidelines in the implementation of an advance ruling system for valuation and rules of origin.
Signed November 28, Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 30-2016 implements Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 03-2016, which establishes an advance ruling system regarding customs valuation method and preferential and non-preferential origin of goods. An advance ruling is an official written and binding ruling issued by BOC upon the request of an importer, foreign exporter, or authorized agent, and is now part of the law under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
CMO 30-2016, which took effect immediately, states that the request for advance rulings shall be submitted to BOC electronically and application fees shall be paid through bank payment.
Standard procedures and the required application forms for advanced rulings shall be published on BOC’s website.
Advance rulings will also be published on BOC’s website, with any information that is claimed to be confidential shall be redacted.
A non-refundable advance ruling application fee of P1,500 shall be collected by BOC for each request, which must relate only to one product or item.
A requesting person may withdraw the request at any time before BOC decides on the application. The application will be terminated as of the date of the receipt of the written withdrawal.
“A withdrawal of the request shall not prohibit the filing of another request on the same subject,” CMO 30-2016 stated.
BOC shall issue the advance ruling or its revalidation within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the request, or from submission of additional documents or information, as the case may be. Advance rulings shall be issued in writing addressed to the requesting person, redacting those matters considered as confidential, with a notification if the requesting person’s right to appeal the decision.
The issuance of an advance ruling may be declined in the following cases: the issue involves a matter pending before the courts or is subject of an administrative review or under post-clearance audit; a request for the same goods is already filed by the same requesting person; an advance ruling on the same goods has been issued to the same requesting person; or the request is based on a hypothetical situation.
The Technical Support Team for Advance Ruling, which will be directly under the Office of the Commissioner, shall provide the technical support in implementing the advance ruling system. The customs commissioner may assign a deputy commissioner in charge of the support team.
The customs commissioner shall also establish an implementation and monitoring plan to guide the implementation and evaluation of the effectiveness of the advance ruling. For this purpose, the Management Information System and Technology Group of BOC shall develop a database system that will capture, record, and generate reports on all data and information on advance ruling requests and issuances.
Intentional misinterpretation of any material fact regarding an application for advance ruling shall be penalized by the rejection of the request and the revocation of advance ruling if it has been issued. Also penalized with the same is the submission of counterfeit or false or inaccurate documents in supports of a request. – Roumina Pablo
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