Customs decentralizes brokers’ accreditation

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has streamlined the accreditation of customs brokers, as well as importers and exporters authorized by other regulatory agencies.

Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero issued last April 16 Customs Memorandum Order 19-2019, which decentralized the activation of the client profile registration System (CPRS) of entities accredited by other government agencies and the renewal of brokers registration.

Under the CMO, the activation of the CPRS can be done at the collection district nearest the traders’ place of business, instead of going through the BOC’s Account Management Office (AMO).

This reduces the number of signatories to only two — the office of the District Collector and the local Customs Intelligence and Investigation Service (CIIS).

The CPRS activation would be processed upon the receipt of endorsement from concerned government agencies, together with the attached requirements.

Meanwhile, customs brokers may file for renewal of their accreditation with the CIIS office at the collection district nearest their principal place of business.

The CIIS office must evaluate the application and supporting documents, and submit to the district collector their recommendation on whether to approve or deny the application.

Approved applications shall be endorsed by the district collector to the AMO, which is tasked to activate the brokers’ CPRS and prepare the certificate of accreditation (COA).

Once signed, the COA will be sent to the district collector for release to the customs brokers.

The new guidelines are part of the bureau’s efforts to simplify procedures in line with Guerrero’s 10-point priority program.

For 2019, the BOC is targeting to collect P677 billion, 14 percent higher than last year’s P593.1 billion.

The bureau had already collected P193.5 billion as of the end of April, up 9.6 percent year-on-year.

For April, alone,  BOC’s revenue rose 10.4 percent to P51.7 billion.