THE Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) will issue a Customs Administrative Order within the month banning transshipment operations in the country, said Customs commissioner Angelito Alvarez.
“This is our priority. Our Legal Service has ruled there is legal basis to stop transshipment operations and we expect to implement this within the month,” Alvarez said in a press conference last week.
The BOC wants to change the rules on transshipment because of their susceptibility to abuse and misuse.
It may be recalled that last May, containers transshipped from the Port of Manila to Batangas Port, two hours south of Manila, went missing and cost the government P240 million in foregone taxes. The missing containers is now the subject of an ongoing inquiry at the House of Representatives.
In an earlier statement, Alvarez said he wants to require transshipment cargoes to be entered eventually under consumption entries to allow cargo processing, assessment and payment of duties at the port of discharge.
The current practice allows transshipment of containers from the port of discharge to the port of destination where the consumption entry will be filed and assessment of duties and taxes will be made.
Alvarez’s plan only covers cargoes declared under consumption entries. The rules for shipments declared under warehousing entries or those intended for use by locators in export processing zones and other customs bonded facilities would stay as is.
Alvarez said the disadvantages of transshipment to the national government have so far outweighed advantages enjoyed by importers and brokers.
Transhipment, he added, has become a marketing tool for customs collection districts hard pressed to meet their collection targets, and bred unhealthy competition among customs collection districts and other port stakeholders.
