MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), the country’s largest business organization, is apprehensive over the Bureau of Custom’s policy requiring Customs personnel to be present during loading schedules of exporters.
PCCI said the policy is an impediment to trade facilitation and could further increase the cost of doing business for exporters.
“There are not enough Customs personnel to certify every loading nationwide,” said PCCI president Alfredo M. Yao. “The shortage of Customs staff is a reason for the mandatory X-Ray inspection and for the Customs prerogative to open containers on suspicion of misdeclarations.”
Yao said that PCCI appreciates the intent of the policy, which aims to establish the legitimacy of exporters, as part of the risk management system being developed for exports.
But Yao noted the need to further study the implementation procedure to ensure that it would support the objectives of trade facilitation and export competitiveness, especially of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“Let’s help our small and medium exporters compete,” said Yao. “Their competitors in Asean countries don’t have that policy. Our exporters pay for additional costs of the transport, accommodations and meals of Customs staff. ”
“The other question is if personnel are available, when, and if they are available at night time, holidays and weekends,” said Yao.
“Small exporters have not factored in the costs of this new Customs policy in their export contracts,” he said. “The costs of this new policy are not in quotations negotiated six or nine months before.”
The cost of waiting include additional rent for the use of warehouses while waiting for the BOC staff, plus extra charges for trucks, Yao said.
For heavier items such as furniture and marble tiles, loading of a container to be witnessed by a Customs staff could take about five days.
“This BOC policy exposes our exporters to penalties of as much as 10 percent on the first day of delayed shipments,” he said. “Worse, our exporters lose the next sale because buyers prefer to order from reliable suppliers.”
Yao said Commissioner Sonny Sevilla should also hear from exporters themselves tales of “informal accounts of extortive rates and behavior forced on exporters.”
The port congestion at the ports in Manila increases the risks of delays, he said.