The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) has initially set October as the target date for implementing the mandatory advance submission of electronic air manifests at all airports.
The latest draft of the customs memorandum order (CMO) on the revised procedures for submitting electronic air manifests covers all airline manifests from air express operators, airfreight forwarders and de-consolidators at all international airports submitted to the BOC through the facilities of value-added service providers (VASP).
Previous drafts did not include air express operators in the scope. BOC said an air express operator will be treated as an airline if the aircraft is owned by the operator; otherwise, it will be treated as a consolidator.
Pre-clearance shipment of an air express operator will be allowed if the required electronic inward foreign manifest (e-IFM) or electronic consolidation cargo manifest (e-CCM) is made available from BOC’s electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.
The e-IFM consists of all the master airway bills (MAWBs) of cargoes consigned to ultimate and nominal consignees, while the e-CCM consists of all the house airway bills (HAWBs) of cargoes consigned to the ultimate consignees de-grouped/split from the MAWBs of cargoes whose consignees are just nominal such as banks, forwarders, and de-consolidators.
Under the latest draft, amending the e-IFM and e-CCM is not allowed for pre-clearance shipments.
It stipulates that an e-manifest must be submitted an hour before an aircraft arrives from ports of origin in Asia and four hours before its arrival from other ports.
Submission of e-IFM will be categorized under three frames—on-time submission, late submission or after cut-off time as defined by BOC, and non-compliant submission or after aircraft arrival.
The e-CCM, on the other hand, must be submitted by airlines, air express operators, airfreight forwarders, and de-consolidators to BOC upon aircraft arrival.
Penalties for late submission
Late submission of e-IFM and e-CCM will be subject to a P10,000 charge for the first offense, P20,000 for the second offense, and P30,000 for the third and subsequent offenses and for non-compliance.
Late submissions will be counted on a monthly basis, not on a yearly basis as was earlier proposed.
Hard copies of the supplemental e-IFM — considered a late submission — must be submitted within four hours of aircraft arrival.
VASPs, meanwhile, are responsible for training their clientele of airlines, air express operators, airfreight forwarders, and de-consolidators on how to submit e-manifests and other requirements.
Under the latest draft rules, the following data elements in the e-IFM and e-CCM are mandatory: Customs office, registry number (same as Flight Number), bill of lading (B/L) reference number (same as air way bill number), B/L type (i.e., MAWB, HAWB, or AWB), nature (23-consumption, 24-transhipment), shipper’s name and address, consignee’s name and address, notify party and address, place of loading, place of unloading, aircraft name, type of packages, quantity, gross weight, specific description of the goods, marks and numbers, declared value of the goods, handling information, and CBM (cubic meter).
The draft CMO, once approved by Customs Commissioner John Sevilla, will revoke CMO 23-2011 dated May 16, 2011.
Stakeholders will be consulted on the draft ruling based on the following schedule: September 9 (morning session for internal BOC stakeholders; and afternoon session for airlines/air express operators and VASPs) and September 11 (morning session for airfreight forwarders/members of the Aircargo Forwarders of the Philippines/ VASPs; and afternoon session for officers of Chamber of Customs Brokers Inc and Port Users Cconfederation). The meetings will be held at the BOC NAIA conference room. — Roumina Pablo
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