Customs suspends 115 importers, brokers

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs suspended the accreditation 115 of importers and customs brokers who have repeatedly violated Customs policies and procedures in filing import documents as part of continuing efforts to reform the agency.

Seventy (70) companies or entities and 45 customs brokers had their accreditations suspended for non-compliance with the BOC’s policies on disclosure of detailed product descriptions for goods imported—the first time in recent history that a big batch of accredited importers and brokers were sanctioned for non-compliance with this policy.

Customs Commissioner John Sevilla said that the importers and brokers suspended will no longer be allowed to file import entries and will therefore lose the privilege to import goods.

“The importers and brokers we suspended habitually failed to provide detailed information about the goods they imported. Ang hindi paglalahad ng kabuuang detalye ng inangkat na produkto ay limit na palusot para mapababa ang customs duties and taxes nadapatbayaran. Simple lang ang ibigsabihin nito—ito ay mistulang technical smuggling. Hindi na namin papayagan pa ang lantarang pagsuway sa batas dito sa Bureau of Customs.”

In 2013, the Bureau’s Interim Customs Accreditation Registration (ICARE), suspended the accreditation of 26 importers and one broker for violation of customs rules and regulations.

Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 8-2007 and Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 28-2007, which state that the imported articles must be described in sufficient detail for proper valuation and tariff classification. Importers and brokers are therefore responsible for enumerating details such as specific product description; make, model, variant and brand; and retail packaging or stock-keeping unit (SKU) in the import entries filed with the Bureau.

The suspension of erring importers and brokers comes in the wake of the implementation of Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 04-2014, issued last February 21, 2014. Section 3.5 of the  CMO states that “the existing accreditation of an importer or customs broker may be suspended, revoked or cancelled” if there are violations of the “Sworn Undertaking to strictly abide with existing rules and regulations on the Statement of Full Description of Imported Articles covered by entry declarations.”

Recommendations for suspension, revocation or cancellation shall be filed with the Legal Service Division of the BOC, subject to the approval of the Deputy Commissioner of the Revenue Collection Monitoring Group.

All suspensions, revocations and cancellation of accreditation, on the other hand, are acted upon by the Account Management Office (AMO).

“Let this be a warning to our stakeholders that we have zero tolerance for wrongdoing. They must do their part in helping reform the Bureau of Customs by complying with the law,” added Sevilla.

Last month, the BOC implemented new rules on the accreditation of importers and customs brokers, requiring applicants to secure clearance first from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and get the necessary BIR Importer Clearance Certificate (BIR-ICC) or BIR Broker Clearance Certificate (BIR-BCC).

The new rules emanated from a recent order from the Department of Finance (DO No. 12-2014), as part of a holistic drive to thwart smugglers and are aligned with Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 10-2014 issued by the BIR which prescribes the guidelines and procedures for the issuance of BIR-ICCs or BIR-BCCs.

Meanwhile, Globe Telecom through its customs broker REQ Brokerage Services filed a motion for reconsideration Friday to lift the suspension order issued by the Bureau of Customs (BOC).

To date, neither Globe nor its broker has received the official order from the BOC pertaining to the suspension.

Atty. Froilan Castelo, Globe General Legal Counsel, clarified that the issue is a misinterpretation of the BOC administrative order that required brokers to describe imports in detail.

“The issue emanates from the limited number of characters (26 characters) provided in the online form that is supposed to describe the goods imported. This is why we always submit supporting documents as separate attachments because it is impossible to put all item descriptions in the online form,” Castelo said.

Castelo also revealed that all importations of telecom equipment, parts and accessories pass through the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) for the issuance of certificate of import and permit to purchase with supporting documents itemizing all goods to be imported. 

Castelo added that Globe secures the Department of Finance (DOF) Endorsement Duty Free Exemptions under RA 7229 where the supporting documents include the NTC import permit and complete shipping documents detailing the imported items.