The entire airfreight industry is now on a very much heightened alert after BOC, through the office of Deputy Commissioner for MISTG Primo Aguas, disseminated for stakeholder comments the latest version of the draft revised customs memorandum order on the mandatory advance submission of air manifest.
For the numerous foreign airlines, air express operators and forwarders already submitting e-manifest since the latter part of 2011 – on a voluntary basis – in compliance with CMO 23-2011 dated 16 May 2011, the forthcoming mandatory implementation will involve a somewhat easy transition.
However, those waiting at the last minute for the “signed CMO” before taking action to comply will face a very challenging situation because for them the transition is from “manual to automated” process.
I also want to highlight the need to THINK & PLAN beyond compliance to mandatory advance submission because other BOC and PEZA e-Systems are planned for implementation right after air manifest.
The targeted implementation date – October 2014!
Leo V. Morada is a domain expert on IT applications in Philippine port operations with 25 years’ senior IT management experience implementing technology solutions in port operations, electronic transactions with customs & port authority, and air/sea port community system applications. He is CEO of Cargo Data Exchange Center, Incorporated which is a customs-accredited Value Added Service Provider. He may be contacted at lmorada3fl@yahoo.com.
