BOC launches Customs ‘Bible’

MANILA, Philippines - Bureau of Customs (BOC) has launched a one-stop “Bible,” a hyperlink where traders can find out the full requirements in the importation of regulated goods. Commissioner Sevilla addressing the Customs personnel during their flag ceremony yesterday, BOC Commissioner John Philip Sevilla said that instead of downloading the movie “50 Shades of Grey” they should just download this “Bible” which would be useful in processing the release of shipment. By April 20, all importers should submit the complete requirements otherwise their shipment would be seized.

The “Bible” refers to the agency’s year-long effort to come up with a single reference list of permits and requirements from 23 different agencies needed by importers and brokers to legally bring in a regulated product.

During yesterday’s Monday flag ceremony, Sevilla told the employees that it would do them will to copy the “BOC Regulated Imports List”, which can be accessed and downloaded by importers from the Customs website.  After all they both contain 800 megabytes of data, he added.

In the website there is a link that would bring the importer and other interested individuals to the masterlist of all the regulated import products in the country and their corresponding import requirements.

The BOC identified 7,422 regulated products under 61 broad categories, the 23 concerned agencies, and the 33 different types of permits.

But since the Internet connection in the bureau is “awful”, he believed it was practical for the employees to have the masterlist installed in their computers.