THE Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association (PISFA) wants a direct hand in the crafting of policies at the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
"We want to be properly consulted particularly on directives that directly affect our operations," PISFA president Nelson Mendoza told PortCalls. "Our group has been clamoring for more consultative meetings with BOC as early as the start of the implementation of the electronic-to-mobile (e2m) project but very limited meetings have been conducted."
"More and proper consultation will result in the smooth and effective application of new procedures and processes otherwise these will just become deterrents to trade."
Specifically, PISFA wants greater involvement in drafting of a Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) on the automated export declaration system (AEDS). PISFA's legal team is now drawing up a position paper for submission to the BOC and the Export Development Council.
In addition, PISFA will identify potential problems with new trade procedures such as the scrapping the yellow lane, which took effect on Monday (November 15).
Other issues for which PISFA claims it was not properly consulted were the cutoff for the advance consolidated cargo manifest rule and the penalty system related to late submission of manifests.
