NFA requires clearance in rice stocks shipment

The National Food Authority now requires a clearance to transport rice and its by-products, via water transportation.

This new requirement is intended to monitor the position and movement of food stocks and forestall illegal trade, said the NFA in its recent circular.

Shippers who fail to comply with this requirement will face fine and imprisonment, and the seizure of their stocks, the NFA said.

The NFA circular also clarified that water transport is not limited to vessels, boats, barges and other watercrafts, as it may also be rice-loaded trucks on board ferryboats.

Application for a shipping clearance, on a per shipment deal basis, should be made five days before loading the stocks, and such document will be effective within 15 days from the date of issuance.

Before the clearance is issued, the NFA personnel will inspect first the stocks for shipment to ensure compliance of quality packaging and labeling standards.

The NFA rules also require that both shipper and consignee should be duly licensed by the NFA, as wholesaler or transporter. But if the rice shipped is imported, the shipper or transporter should have an NFA importer license with an active NFA import permit.

If the transporter is not a direct importer and just occupied stocks from another wholesaler or importer, he should possess documentary evidence such as invoices issued by the importer and the corresponding NFA permits.

Absence of these documents will be ground for the NFA and the Bureau of Customs to confiscate the shipment. - Jasmin R. Uy