Customs bureau to scrutinize importers' certificates of origin

MANILA, Philippines - Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez has ordered a thorough screening and validation of “certificates of origin” (CO) submitted by importers as some of the documents have been found to be fake and fraudulent.

In a statement yesterday, Alvarez said some importers are using the tariff preferences under the country’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA) for their shipments.

Alvarez said there have been reports of rampant use of fake documents to obtain reduced tariff on certain import products.

As such, the Customs chief said he wanted to subject to microscopic scrutiny all import shipments that had been granted preferential tariff under the different FTAs.

These agreements include the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA); ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA); ASEAN-Korea Free Trade Agreement (AKFTA); ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (AJCEPA); ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA); ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (AIFTA); and the Philippine-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (PJEPA).

Last year, some 54,000 import entries cleared customs either tariff-free or with reduced tariff on the strength of certificates of origin submitted by importers.

Alvarez said a new evaluation and review process is intended to “ferret out suspected spurious certificates of origin which will then be subjected to further retro-verification process through the cooperation of the issuing authority in the exporting countries.”

The results of the review will be the basis of actions to be taken by the Bureau of Customs. Measures may include the collection of proper duties and taxes and the filing of smuggling cases if and when the commission of fraud is proven.

Recently, some 600 sets of fake CO forms being honored in the ASEAN-China Free Trade Areas were seized from a Filipino-Chinese national during a sting operation by a composite team from Customs and the National Bureau of Investigation.