We are ready to handle imports sans SGS - BOC

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) allayed fears yesterday about being unable to fill in the void to be created by the withdrawal of pre-shipment inspection (PSI) firm Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) a week from now.

Acting Customs chief Renato Ampil told The STAR in an interview that the agency has long been in the process of setting up systems and procedures in anticipation of an SGS-less environment.

"They have nothing to fear," the commissioner's chief legal assistant, lawyer Aaron Redubla said.

The assurance came in the wake of apprehensions by the business community, about the BOC's ability to take over the functions of SGS.

The SGS contract expires at the end of March but businessmen, mainly importers, expressed doubts on the ability of BOC to take over.

"There is no need for a dry run, no need to rehearse because we are already doing it. We have been calibrating the system since Jan. 1, 2000," Redubla said.

The lawyer said that with the country's commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the BOC, since Jan. 1, 2000, has set in place two import processing systems, one for SGS-covered shipments and another for non-SGS-covered shipments.

"(With the expiry of the SGS contract) what is only needed is to expand the coverage of the remaining system," Redubla pointed out.

Since Jan. 1, SGS has been covering 50 percent of total importation with the other 50 percent, mostly government importation, already being handled by the BOC.

Redubla also sought to clarify the issue on the processing of shipments still covered by SGS' Clean Report of Findings (CRF).

"All shipments issued with Import Advice Numbers (IAN) and inspected on or before the cut-off on March 31, 2000 will still be covered by CRFs. Imports departing from their ports of origin on April 1, however, will no longer be covered," Redubla pointed out.

The import processing will, by then, be handled by the BOC, Redubla said.

Redubla also said it is not true there are only 4,000 commodities in the BOC's present list for price information and classification.

"There are already 150,000 commodities in the BOC's database. These will also be expanded to 200,000 within a week from April 1, 2000," he said.