PORT stakeholders are at a loss over how
to comply with the new order on the non-intrusive container
inspection system (NCIS).
Executive Order (EO) No. 592, signed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
late last month, provides for the adoption of a non-intrusive
detection technology to allow the speedy and reliable examination
and inspection of sealed cargo and shipments in nearly all
major ports and airports in the country.
As of this writing, government agencies that will be affected
by the order, including the Export Development Council (EDC),
have yet to lay down compliance guidelines.
The agencies said that to begin with, they have yet to see
the EO and its implementing rules and regulations.
The EO will directly affect import and export shipments, both
air and sea, passing through the Bureau of Customs (BOC) as
it provides for the collection of a security fee of $20 per
standard twenty-footer container and $50 for a forty-footer
or from P1,000 to P2,500 per container, scanned or not, as
long as it is within the jurisdiction of the BOC.
The EO provides that import and export cargoes landed, stored
in piers, airports, terminal facilities including container
yards, freight stations under the jurisdiction of the BOC
will be charged.
The fee will be used to pay the amount loaned by the country
from China to procure the non-intrusive scanners and x-ray
machines to ensure that incoming and outgoing cargo are safe
and secured.
The additional charge could, however, run counter to the EDC
position seeking to scrap all extra fees imposed on export
shipments in a bid to make Philippine exports more competitive
in the international market. The EDC recently shot down the
33% export service surcharge proposed by warehouse and ground-handling
service providers.
ÒIf the system will facilitate customs clearance then
the amount will be well spent. However, if it will not facilitate
and would only add to the existing procedures, then it will
mean an added burden to everybody,Ó said Philippine
International Seafreight Forwarders Association executive
director and Port Users Confederation spokesperson Atty. Romeo
Sto. Tomas.
Aircargo Forwarders of the Philippines, Inc. president Jaime
Roxas said he sees no problem with the additional cost. ÒWe
have no problems with that. These are pass-on charges. Shippers
will shoulder the added cost,Ó he said.
The Distribution Management Association of the Philippines
declined to comment on the new system as it is still being
discussed by its board.
The NCIS ensures all cargoes from the Philippines are free
from materials used for weapons of mass destruction. The project
involves the purchase, installation and operation of 20 mobile
x-ray units in major airports and ports around the country,
including Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the South Harbor,
the Manila International Container Ports, Cebu, Subic, Clark,
Batangas, San Fernando, Legaspi, Iloilo, Tacloban, Surigao,
Cagayan de Oro, Zamboanga, and Davao.
Merits of RA 9280 case may be decided
by end of the month
A decision on whether or not the case on
alleged violations of Republic Act 9280 (Customs Broker Act
of 2004) by a corporation will stand in court is expected
by month’s end.
This after complainant customs broker Virgilio Laudit and
the Professional Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines
(PCBAPI) as well as respondent Airlift Asia Customs Brokerage,
Inc. (AACBI) last week submitted replies and counter affidavits
to Pasay City prosecutor Augustus Bernabe Solis.
It will be recalled that last November, Laudit filed a criminal
complaint before the Pasay City prosecutor’s office
alleging that AACBI violated provisions of RA 9280 and resolutions
of the Professional Regulatory Board for Customs Board.
Laudit claimed AACBI engaged in corporate practice in violation
of Sections 27, 28 and 29, Article IV of RA 9280 by preparing
documents of different imported articles as a corporation.
AACBI has branded the complaint as a harassment case. It said
that if the complaint prospers, this could open floodgates
for more suits against chief executives of end-to-end logistics
firms.
In a counter-affidavit, AACBI claimed Laudit is not the proper
complainant since he is not the offended party and as a corporation,
AACBI cannot commit a crime nor be accused in a criminal action.
AACBI also claimed that Alfonso Santiago, president of AACBI
and a respondent to the case, is only involved in the management
of the business and has never offered himself as a customs
broker, or used the title or conveyed the impression that
he (or the corporation) was in the business of customs brokerage.
RA 9280 regulates the practice of the customs broker profession.
Section 29 provides that the customs broker practice is a
professional service and as such, no firm, company, or association
may be registered or licensed as such for the practice of
customs broker profession. Section 28 also provides that no
person shall practice or offer to practice the profession,
or use the title unless one is a registered licensed customs
broker.
However, Customs Administrative Order 3-2006-A, which operationalizes
RA 9280 at the BOC, authorized customs brokerage corporations
and forwarding firms to lodge customs entries and/or use their
employee-customs representatives to transact business at the
BOC.
Norway’s
$200,000 grant to fund RP maritime law review
THE government of Norway has given the Philippines
a technical assistance grant to study the country’s
maritime laws. The end view of the study will be to legislate
an omnibus maritime law by year-end that will address overlapping
functions of several government agencies.
Newly installed Transport undersecretary for the maritime
sector Elena Bautista said the $200,000 grant entails the
creation of a bills review committee that will study all maritime
laws in the country.
She said the committee will focus on finding a cure for the
ills of the maritime sector. Experts from the local industry,
from Norway and from the academe will be part of the committee.
ÒNo one from the Maritime Industry Authority (Marina)
or the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) will sit on the committee
in order to have an objective output,Ó Bautista said.
Executive Order 477 has given Marina the power to deputize
some of its functions, such as ensuring vessel safety and
the verification of the actual number of passengers onboard
sea-going vessels, to the PCG.
This has caused much animosity between officials of the two
agencies, with the question of responsibility on safety at
seas particularly surfacing when the MT Solar 1 sank off Guimaras
Island last year.
The Board of Marine Inquiry, the body created to investigate
the oil spill, found both Marina and PCG at fault on the incident.
APEX employees skipped their usual Christmas
party celebrations in favor of helping out Bicol victims of
recent killer typhoon Reming. In photo is Boy G. Aycocho (extreme
left), APEX assistant general manager, with some residents
of Barangay Busay in Daraga, Albay.
