PEZA, BOC to enhance trade facilitation in ecozones

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is looking to strengthen its ties with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in a bid to enhance trade facilitation and logistics efficiency in the economic zones.

“PEZA is one with the BOC and other participants in the local supply and global value chains in enhancing the ecozone business ecosystem and our overall competitiveness to make the Philippines a viable investment destination in the region,” PEZA OIC and deputy director general for policy and planning Tereso Panga said in a statement yesterday.

In line with this, Panga, along with other PEZA officials, recently met with acting Customs Commissioner Yogi Ruiz, and Customs collectors assigned in the PEZA zones namely collector Alex Go for Cavite and NCR, and collector Marife Recinto for Laguna.

The agencies plan to build on their partnership in terms of increasing logistics efficiency and supply chain management, and other measures for continual improvement.

Panga shared that PEZA and the BOC had discussed various pressing concerns among registered enterprises such as use of single General Transport Surety Bonds (GTSB) for ecozone importations and interzone transfer of goods between PEZA-registered enterprises.

He said  the adoption of selective and risk-based approach for shipments to be covered by electronic tracking using e-seal under the Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo (e-TRACC), as well as the integration of PEZA Electronic Import Permit System (EIPS) and Automated Export Documentation System (AEDS) to the BOC Electronic-to-Mobile (E2M) system for increased security and transparency in the processing and monitoring of import and export permits/documents were also discussed during the meeting.

The two agencies also talked about the basis of computation of tax and duties on the disposal of enterprises’ assets pursuant to the CREATE Act (net book value as reference) during their meeting.

Over the years,  PEZA has introduced the electronic import permit and automated export documentation system for ecozone locators.

The BOC later pursued the national single window, a computerized internet-based system that allows parties involved in trade to lodge information and documents with a single-entry point to fulfill all import, export, and transit-related regulatory requirements.

“It is important to strengthen partnership between PEZA and BOC given their respective roles in investment and trade facilitation that are being improved towards digital transformation,” Panga said.

He said PEZA has rolled out its online payment system and initiated other office automation projects to enhance customer experience and the agency’s delivery of services.

Panga said this is in response to President Marcos’ call for digital transformation among government offices and in line with the priority program of Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual under the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications cluster of the Department of Trade and Industry’s strategic plan.

“All these will contribute to higher productivity, reliability, availability, increased performance, and reduced operating costs to the benefit of our valued ecozone investors and other stakeholders,” Panga said.