The Bureau of Customs (BOC) plans to waive payment for export documentation stamp by the first quarter of 2015 as part of its drive to facilitate trade.
“There’s a plan to waive or eliminate the doc (documentary) stamps for exports,” BOC-Port of Manila Export Division chief Atty. Louis Adviento told PortCalls on the sidelines of the 2014 National Export Congress held December 5.
Adviento said the move will assist exporters with their outbound shipments and is part of the regulatory reforms the agency will come out with to facilitate export procedures.
He noted that the collection of P100 for documentary stamp per export declaration is provided for in the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, which prescribes imposing charges for processing documents.
Another BOC plan for the first quarter of 2015 is to reduce documentary requirements of exporters to speed up their accreditation for the agency’s electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system, Adviento said.
To expedite export shipments, Adviento said the agency seeks to integrate the BOC and Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) systems to “have a single electronic system for lodgement” by exporters.
Earlier, Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla said the agency is already working with PEZA to integrate the systems, aiming to launch the aligned platform by January 2015.
Sevilla said most PEZA’s imports are filed electronically, and BOC intends to “get rid of the paper” on its side.
Good move
Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. assistant vice president for advocacy and communications Flordeliza Leong told PortCalls the BOC plans are a positive move because “any move that will ease doing business is good for exporters and the country.”
The country’s exports increased 9.9% year-on-year for the period January-September 2014, boosted by electronic shipments, according to Trade Undersecretary Ponciano Manalo Jr. during his presentation at the export congress.
Manalo also announced that the Philippine Export Development 2014-2016, the three-year plan that provides direction for the export industry, has been submitted to President Benigno Aquino III for approval.
The plan, according to Manalo, includes the continuous simplification and reduction of domestic regulations that impede movement of goods, lowering of transaction costs, acceleration of reforms in customs procedures and automation of export procedures, and proper coordination and harmonization of the policies of various government agencies. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
