BOC steps up effort to shore up revenues

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is stepping up its post-evaluation measures to verify the Certificates of Origin (COs) of imported goods, preventing abuses in the system and protecting the government revenues from leakages.

In a text message to The STAR, Customs assistant commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla said the bureau is planning to implement an expanded post-evaluation system for COs, pursuant to a memorandum issued by Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero last week.

Currently, the post-evaluation process is conducted on a random and case-to-case basis. But the latest issuance intends to widen the coverage and parameters of the program, he said.

“We want to address some concerns on abuse of claims for preferential tariff treatment. The post-entry evaluation of Certificates of Origin will help us validate and check these abuses,” Maronilla said.

A Certificate of Origin is a document declaring that a traded good was manufactured or produced in a particular country.

Depending on the origin of the goods, they may be imposed with preferential tariff rates under the various unilateral, bilateral, regional or multilateral trading agreements entered into by the   government.

The BOC’s Export Coordination Division (ECD) was given the task of designing a post-evaluation system of COs that cover imported products to ensure that proper duties and taxes are collected.

Under the new memorandum issued by Guerrero, the BOC’s Preferential Rate Unit was directed to submit to the ECD on a weekly basis all COs utilized in the importation of goods for post-evaluation purposes.

“Further, in the exercise of post-evaluation, the Export Coordination Division may request from the Port’s Liquidation and Billing Division additional documents to substantiate the authenticity of Certificates of Origin and, if necessary, summon or demand from consignees additional documents to validate and authenticate their submitted Certificates of Origin,” the memo stated.

Aside from the post-evaluation of COs, the BOC is also conducting post-audit activities to look into past importations and ensure that proper duties and taxes were collected even after the shipments had already been released.

The bureau said the audit aims to verify the accuracy and authenticity of declarations and other returns submitted to customs authorities.

It also seeks to improve trade facilitation, encourage voluntary disclosures and protect government revenues.

From January to June, the BOC was able to raise P487 million in additional revenues from its post-clearance audit activities.

The bureau also assured the public that it is implementing post-audit measures on rice shipments. This is to make sure that correct taxes and duties are collected even as the government expedited the release of rice imports to secure food supply amid lockdowns.