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The Bureau of Customs is establishing a technical working group that will implement time release studies in its ports
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The studies will identify supply chain bottlenecks and opportunities for trade facilitation improvements
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The creation of the working group is in keeping with requirements of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement
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The group will be established in BOC’s central office and all collection districts
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is establishing a technical working group (TWG) that will implement time release studies (TRS) in its ports.
The studies will identify supply chain bottlenecks and opportunities for trade facilitation improvements.
The creation of the BOC TWG on TRS is contained in Customs Memorandum Order No. 07-2024 dated April 22, and is in keeping with requirements of the World Trade Organization Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO FTA) Article 7 6.1, which encourages member countries to measure and publish their average release time of goods periodically and in a consistent manner, using tools such as the TRS of the World Customs Organization (WCO).
BOC has been conducting TRS in its ports yearly since 2019 to identify supply chain bottlenecks affecting the release of imports and exports and come up with recommendations to mitigate such bottlenecks. The latest available TRS is dated 2022.
READ: BOC study reveals causes of processing delays
BOC is also spearheading the conduct of a national time release study under the Philippine Trade Facilitation Committee (PTFC) Roadmap to quantify cargo release time from arrival to out-of-charge for imports, and arrival to carrier departure for exports. The PTFC was created to enable the Philippines to comply with its WTO FTA commitments.
CMO 07-2024 aims to promote the use of TRS to measure the average release of goods periodically, identify constraints or bottlenecks affecting the release of goods, and identify opportunities for trade facilitation improvements.
The BOC-TRS TWG will be established in BOC’s central office and all collection districts.
The central office TWG will be headed by the Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group-Port Operations Service director as chairperson and Internal Administration Group-Planning and Policy Research Division chief as co-chairperson.
The TWG in each collection districts will be headed by the district collector as chairperson.
Among its duties and responsibilities, the BOC-TRS TWG should spearhead the planning and coordination necessary for the implementation of the TRS and work in close collaboration with the ports to process the results of the TRS.
The TWG should also recommend possible corrective measures for creating a conducive environment for a seamless flow of goods, and opportunities for trade facilitation enhancements.
It should also review and evaluate the effectiveness of the improvements and innovations that have been instituted, as a result of the recommendations of the previous TRS. Further, the TWG should represent and advance the interests of BOC in the implementation of the TRS in meetings and consultations with other parties. – Roumina Pablo
