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The Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. welcomes the deferment of a Bureau of Customs order that would have enabled individuals, other than customs brokers, to act as declarant and sign goods declaration
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Acting Customs commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said the suspension is “out of deference to the judicial resolution” of the pending declaratory relief case concerning Section 106 (d) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act filed by CCBI before the Regional Trial Court of Manila Branch 16
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CCBI president Adones Carmona said they believe BOC should wait for the resolution of the case
The Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (CCBI) welcomes the deferment of a Bureau of Customs (BOC) order that would have allowed non-customs brokers to act as declarant and sign goods declaration.
“I am very thankful and grateful to the good commissioner for his swift decision and action to suspend his memo allowing non-brokers to be registered with CPRS (Client Profile Registration System),” CCBI president Adones Carmona told PortCalls in a text message.
In a memo dated August 30, acting Customs commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said BOC is suspending the implementation of his August 18 memo which instructed the Management Information System and Technology Group to implement new functionalities in BOC’s CPRS effective August 22.
The new function would allow individuals other than customs brokers to be registered with the CPRS as declarants, a sore issue among customs brokers.
Ruiz said the suspension is “out of deference to the judicial resolution” of the pending declaratory relief case concerning Section 106 (d) of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA) filed by CCBI before the Regional Trial Court of Manila Branch 16.
Carmona earlier told PortCalls they believe BOC should wait for the resolution of the case.
Even before the issuance of his August 30 memo, Ruiz told PortCalls “BOC will take into consideration the position of licensed customs brokers.”
Customs brokers have long contested Section 106 (Declarant) of the CMTA and Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 34-2019, particularly the provision allowing non-customs brokers such as agents or attorneys-in-fact as declarants.
READ: BOC allows non-brokers to register as declarants; brokers cry foul
CMO 34-2019, which was the basis of the August 18 memo, provides interim guidelines for implementing Sections 106 and 107 (Rights and Responsibilities of the Declarant) of the CMTA. It also provides rules on the accreditation and registration of persons, other than the customs broker, entitled to act as declarant and sign the goods declaration for consumption, warehousing, and transit.
CCBI in 2019 had asked BOC to recall CMO 34-2019, saying the guidelines are “in direct contrast” to provisions of Republic Act (RA) No. 9298 or the Customs Brokers Act of 2004. It said CMO 34-2019 is silent as to any liability of the declarant, contradicting Customs Administrative Order No. 05-2019, which imposes criminal liability and other burdens upon the customs broker in accordance with RA 9280.
CCBI described CMO 34-2019 as “unfair and degrading to our profession” and “completely negates the strict qualifications to become a customs broker required by RA 9280.”
Further, it said the order “will surely encourage the proliferation of ‘declarants and consignees for hire’.”
Carmona also earlier said attorneys-in-fact shouldn’t replace customs brokers, but should instead sign on behalf of the importer or exporter.
Former BOC deputy commissioner Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero, in his book Understanding International Trade, Tariff and Customs, said the last paragraph of Section 106 conflicts with the original intent of the law and as a result, has conflicting provisions within the paragraph.
If read together with Section 110 (Relationship Between the Bureau and Third Parties), Uvero said, Section 106 may be interpreted to mean that for the first two years, a goods declaration may only be processed by the declarant or the customs broker. After the two-year period lapses, any third party designated by the importer may now directly transact with customs and, consequently, process the goods declaration. The last paragraph of Section 107 likewise provides that the declarant shall sign the goods declaration even if assisted by a customs broker, who shall likewise separately sign the goods declaration, Uvero noted.
Even with CMO 34-2019, importers can “still freely” tap the services of customs brokers and still assign them as the declarant, BOC assistant commissioner Vincent Philip Maronilla, earlier said. – Roumina Pablo
