The latest revised draft Customs memorandum order on the air e-manifest currently being reviewed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), value-added service providers (VASPs) and industry stakeholders contains provisions which I am highlighting.
Flight Registry Number
Airlines and air express operators are required to submit advance flight schedules, at least one month in advance, to the Aircraft Operations Division or equivalent office for the purpose of encoding the Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) in BOC electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.
The flight schedule shall contain the following information:
– The name of the airline (for example, Philippine Airlines)
– The flight number of arriving aircraft (example: PR101)
– The assigned BOC manifest number (example: PRA0001-15)
The manifest number otherwise known as registry number shall have the format XXANNNN-YY where:
- YY is the last 2 digits of the current year
- NNNN is number series of nth times of arrival of international flight to the Philippines, per order of arrival per airline
- A constitutes the flight category, such as:
- A – Regular Flight
- B – Extension of A in case number series for the current year exceeds 9,999
- D – Delayed Flight
- E – Extra/Additional Flight
- S – Special Flight
- U – Unscheduled Flight
- XX is the BOC assigned prefix to the airline (e.g., PR, SQ, CS, KE, etc)
New Definitions
Off-loaded cargo shall refer to a cargo documented in a pouch submitted to BOC upon arrival of the aircraft but physically the cargo is not loaded in the said aircraft.
Short-landed cargo is the partial arrival of the cargo. The completeness of the said short-landed cargo shall be loaded to another available flight of the same airline or in any available flight of any airline. Inbounding report shall be closed once Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) received information from the warehouseman of the receipt of the completeness of the said short-landed cargo.
Mandatory Data Elements
I have highlighted data items that various stakeholders point out cannot be provided or cannot be immediately complied with by airlines, air express operators and forwarders (the numbering is as prescribed under the CMO):
4.1 Customs Port of Discharge
4.2 Manifest Number
4.3 AWB Number
4.4 BL Type (i.e., MAWB or HAWB or AWB)
4.5 BL Nature (23-Consumption, 24-Transhipment)
4.6 Name of Supplier/Shipper
4.7 Address of Supplier/Shipper
4.8 Name of Importer/Consignee
4.9 Address of Importer/Consignee
4.10 Name of Notify Party (if none, indicate 4.8)
4.11 Address Notify Party (if none, indicate 4.9)
4.12 Port of Loading
4.13 Port of Unloading or Port of Discharge
4.14 Type of Packages
4.15 Total Number of Packages/Quantity
4.16 Total Gross Weight (in kilograms)
4.17 Specific Description of the Goods (except for MAWB with multiple HAWBs)
4.18 Marks and Numbers (can also be used as extension of 4.17)
4.19 Declared Value of the Goods (in USD)
4.20 Freight Charges (in USD)
4.21 Handling information, if indicated only in the AWB / MAWB otherwise this is only the allowed field to be left blank.
Penalty Fee for Late Manifest Submission
Failure to submit the required airline e-IFM and forwarder/consolidator e-CCM within the period prescribed is subject to the payment of the following schedule of fines provided in Section 2521 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines as amended:
- Late submission, per e-IFM is 10,000 Php
- Non-Compliant submission, per e-IFM is 20,000 Php
Non-compliant applies only to e-IFM submission wherein the aircraft arrived already but no e-IFM is submitted to BOC E2M System.
- Late submission of e-CCM per e-IFM is 2,000 Php.
- Late submission of the e-IFM and e-CCM shall not be subject to the imposition of penalties if the late submission is due to the following:
- Technical problem of BOC E2M System / Network
- Technical problem of the VASP System / Network
- Fortuitous events; or
- Force majeure.
The payment of fines is without prejudice to whatever additional recourse the BOC may pursue against the delinquent airlines, air express operators, airfreight forwarders, and de-consolidators.
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, Inc, a customs-accredited Value Added Service Provider. He may be contacted at lmorada3f1@yahoo.com.
