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Customs aims to ‘fully’ implement online facility by yearend

This is an article repost.

THE BUREAU of Customs (BoC) expects to fully implement the National Single Window (NSW) next quarter, as a Cabinet official earlier identified it as a key strategy in stamping out smuggling.

“The National Single Window will be fully implemented in two and a half months,” Customs Commissioner Angelito A. Alvarez said on Thursday last week at the sidelines of a case filing at the Department of Justice.

The NSW is an online facility that enables importers and exporters to submit requirements to various agencies in order to get clearance for their shipments.

“The National Single Window can help us crack down on smugglers. It will allow the Bureau of Customs to process the permits of companies online, so there will be no personal interaction which can lead to corruption,” Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima said during the Development Budget Coordination Committee hearing in the Senate last Tuesday.

“The government loses P60 billion to smuggling every year,” Mr. Purisima had said then.

Currently, 28 government agencies are linked up to the NSW. Mr. Alvarez said this will still be expanded to 40.

“Businesses will be able to process their permits to a [sic] total of 30 agencies and submit reports to 10 others that require it,” he said.

The BoC is now working on linking the NSW to another online facility of the bureau, the Electronic 2 Mobile (E2M) system, Mr. Alvarez added.

The E2M is an electronic platform that allows importers and exporters to submit payments and customs declarations online.

Moreover, the Finance chief said that the Philippines’ NSW will eventually link up with counterpart systems of other Southeast Asian countries as the region strives for market integration by 2015.

“In the future, our National Single Window will be linked to others. So, an exportation in Singapore can immediately be recorded as an importation to the Philippines,” Mr. Purisima explained to legislators.

The interconnection of NSWs in the region would take roughly two more years, Mr. Alvarez said.

The Customs chief also reiterated the need to change transshipment rules.

“There is no impediment if we collect the taxes and duties of transshipment at the point of discharge, instead of the point of destination,” Mr. Alvarez explained.

Under the current system, shipments are levied duties and taxes at their port of destination in the country, instead of at the port of entry.

This system has been abused by smugglers. Just last month, 600 containers covered by transshipment permits were imported into the Port of Manila and the Manila International Container Port. They were then shipped to the Port of Batangas, their final destination, but the Customs personnel there never received them.

Another 2,000 containers also went missing between Manila and Batangas in May.

The shipments could not be accounted for by the officials of the three customs collection districts. The fees and charges on the missing containers, estimated at P240 million, were never collected.

“It is within our power to ensure that everyone pays the corresponding duties and taxes,” Mr. Alvarez said. “Within the month I will issue a CAO [Customs Administrative Order], which will be submitted to the Department of Finance for approval.”

The BoC, which accounts for a fifth of state revenues, is tasked to collect P320 billion this year. It raked in P21.663 billion in June, for a six-month total of P128.557 billion. It was a marginal decline from the P130.722 billion collected the year before and short of its P142.34-billion target for the first half.
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By: Diane Claire J. Jiao
Source: Business World, Aug. 14, 2011
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