BOC to enforce new system for Peza shipments in Cebu

THE Bureau of Customs will enforce a new procedure in the Cebu International Port and Mactan International Airport starting later this month on economic-zone shipments for the effective implementation of the Automated Cargo Transfer System.

According to Customs Memorandum Order 24-2009, approved by BOC Commissioner Napoleon Morales last week, the new order will be enforced on Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered locators and importers starting next week.

Under the new regulation, the BOC will no longer require Customs Peza Warehousing Entry, Transshipment Permit, Transit Cargo Manifest, Boatnote, Mission Order and Telegram in cargo declaration and transfer. The government would instead require the use of Import Entry Internal Revenue Declaration (IEIRD)-Transit for the particulars of the import shipments.

Ecozone enterprises, meanwhile, will have to lodge the IEIRD-Transits using the Single-Administrative Document through any of the BOC-accredited value-added service providers as the BOC will no longer accept entries lodged manually.

Only ecozone enterprises and customs brokers with active registration in the old automated customs operating system can lodge electronic transit declarations.

Ecozone enterprises are also required to post a one-time surety bond issued by a surety company accredited by the BOC, which will serve as guarantee of payment of taxes and duties.

The value of the bond should be equivalent to the average duties and taxes due on importations of the ecozone enterprise for a period of three days.

This is based on the total duties and taxes due on its actual importations during the three-month period immediately prior to its posting of the bond.

BOC may also require an ecozone locator to increase the value of the bond at the end of a semester, upon determination of a significant increase in the level of its actual importations in order to ensure that its surety bond provides adequate coverage of taxes and duties due on its current importations.

The locator is also required to pay BOC cargo transfer fees for the transit goods.

This will only be available through automatic debit from a pre-payment account that they have established in a bank branch designated by BOC’s Port of Mactan collector.

“For tax and duty-exempt import shipments arriving by sea at the Cebu International Port, the transit declaration should be electronically lodged with the Port of Mactan through the VASPs,” BOC said. It added that the processing will be the same as those cargoes shipped through air.

Source: VG Cabuag Business Mirror