Shipping lines are hoping the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) will not be too strict when it starts applying new rules on the advance submission of the sea manifest, saying they need time to make adjustments.
The Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL) appealed to the BOC to exercise more understanding toward carriers, urging the agency to move back the date for imposing penalties on those that fail to comply with the policy.
Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 01-2016, which will take effect on May 1, mandates the electronic transmittal of cargo information to BOC “within 24 hours after the time of departure of carrying vessel from the port of origin, first from the mother vessel or any vessel departing from the actual exporting port of origin and finally, if any, from feeder vessel destined to any importing port in the Philippines.”
The current practice is to submit the manifest 12 hours before the vessel arrives at a Philippine port.
The customs agency said the earlier submission of the sea manifest will “enable BOC to have advance information (on) cargoes destined (for) the Philippines in order to track and trace the movement of cargoes from the origin and evaluate the nature and degree of risk of incoming shipments.”
In a letter dated April 4, AISL general manager Atty. Maximino Cruz requested Vladimir Dennis Reyes, BOC deputy commissioner for Management Information System and Technology Group (MISTG), to extend “some leniency in the submission of the information required within twenty-four (24) hours after departure of the mother vessel from the port of origin” under CAO 01-2016.
“We have explained to you the difficulty/ies faced by shipping lines in providing the complete information enumerated in par. No. (5) of CAO No. 1-2016,” Cruz added.
Cruz earlier told PortCalls shipping lines won’t be able to include all details required in the manifest within the prescribed period, pointing out they “can only supply whatever information is/are available when the mother vessel departs origin port en route to the port of transhipment.”
Cruz said that within 24 hours of departure of the mother vessel from the origin port, AISL member lines can only provide the following information: booking/BL number; shipper; consignee; port of origin; voyage number; carrier identification; and the International Maritime Organization number of the mother vessel.
Other information required under CAO 01-2016 includes the marks and numbers of cartons, drums, boxes, crates and others forms of protective packaging; container and seal number if containerized, and the initials FCL if full container load, and LCL if less than container load; number and kinds of packages; descriptions of contents of cargo; gross weight in metric tons; measurement in cubic meters; and party to be notified.
Cruz said AISL had discussed its concerns with Customs Commissioner Alberto Lina when he spoke at the group’s general membership meeting on March 2. AISL officers also met with MISTG’s Reyes on March 31 to discuss technical aspects of CAO 1-2016.
“In the meantime that shipping lines are adapting their system to the new procedure, it is likewise requested that the non-imposition of penalties be extended until June 15, 2016 instead of May 23, 2016 as originally intended by the Customs Commissioner,” Cruz said.
Under CAO 01-2016, the party that fails to submit the required information on time will have to pay fines prescribed in Section 2521 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, and subscribe to whatever additional recourse the BOC may pursue against it.
Under Section 2521, the failure to supply the manifest has an equivalent fine of not less than P10,000 but not more than P30,000.
Philippine International Seafreight Forwarders Association president Doris Torres earlier pointed out that the penalty fee for non-compliance would revert to P10,000 to P30,000 under CAO 01-2016 from the current P1,000 (for late submission of electronic consolidated cargo manifest) and P10,000 (for late submission of electronic inward foreign manifest) under a previous order, CMO 19-2015. – Roumina Pablo
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