The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has reduced penalties for late submission of sea manifests in response to a long-standing request by the shipping industry.
Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 19-2015, signed by Customs commissioner Alberto Lina and dated June 30, revised procedures for mandatory submission of electronic sea manifests in all ports by shipping lines and freight forwarders/consolidators through value-added service providers (VASPs) under the electronic-to-mobile (e2m) system.
Among the CMO’s key provisions are the following:
- The electronic inward foreign manifest (e-IFM) submitted by shipping lines must be submitted to the BOC at least twelve hours before vessel arrival.
- The electronic consolidated cargo manifest (e-CCM) submitted by non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC)/cargo consolidator/co-loader/breakbulk agent must be submitted to the BOC at least six hours before vessel arrival.
- The e-CCM may be submitted after arrival of the carrying vessel but within the first two hours (before 10am hours) of the following day if the cut-off time for submission of the e-CCM is outside of government regular working hours.
- Penalty per late submission of e-IFM is P10,000.
- Penalty per late submission of e-CCM is P1,000.
It must be noted the penalties are lower than the P10,000 (first offense), P20,000 (second offense) and P30,000 (third offense) previously paid by stakeholders who submit late manifests.
CMO 19-2015 noted penalties will not apply during the following instances: e2m system breakdown or technical problems of the system and power failure; VASP technical problems; fortuitous events; late submission of IFM, in case of CCM; and early arrival of the vessel from that of the original schedule. Under the mentioned circumstances, submission of IFM and/or CCM is allowed “within the 24 hours from the cessation of the event except in the case of early arrival of the vessel, within 24 hours from arrival.”
The payment of fines, the order added, is without prejudice to any additional recourse the BOC may pursue against the delinquent shipping line or NVOCC/consolidator/co-loader/breakbulk agent. Considering the requirement provided in the memo, “the attempt to submit the e-CCM before the cut-off time as logged in the BOC Gateway Server shall be taken into account for waiving the fine against the forwarder/consolidator”, the order said.
Moreover, when the e-IFM/e-CCM is submitted to the BOC gateway server before the cut-off time, the shipping lines/forwarders/consolidators have the option to directly register the e-manifest with BOC. “Otherwise, when the cut-off time is reached the e-manifest will be automatically registered with the BOC; shipping lines are enjoined to exercise the first option of direct registration of e-IFMs to give the forwarders/consolidators enough time to submit their e-CCMs before the cut-off time,” CMO 19-2015 said.
The BOC’s Electronic Manifest System (EMS) processes the e-IFM and the e-CCM based on the time of e-manifest submission, according to the CMO. Under this process, e-manifest submissions are classified into three time frames:
- On-time submission or 12 hours before arrival in case of IFM and six hours before arrival in case of CCM. Cut-off time is defined by BOC, calculated from the submitted estimated date and time of arrival using the BOC gateway server clock.
- Late submission or submission after the cut-off time.
- Supplemental e-manifest submission which will be treated as non-compliant submission.
Amendments
Amendments on electronic manifests must be done before the cut-off time by sending a new e-manifest to update the previous one. If already registered, amendment can be done by a formal request with the Office of the Deputy Collector for Operations, the order said.
“Amendments considered as not material like lack of punctuation marks, spacing, wrong spelling and other clerical errors shall be done administratively through on-line amendment.”
Amendments considered material, which must be requested under oath, include change in consignee’s name, addresses, description of goods, weight, volume and similar amendments considered not clerical.
Meanwhile, cargoes/containers not listed in the IFM but are otherwise recorded in the stowage plan shall be covered by a supplemental e-manifest, which shall be submitted to the BOC through the VASP “not later than 48 hours from date of discharge of the last package from the vessel.”
For cargoes/containers not listed in the IFM and stowage plan, the supplemental manifest must be submitted not later than 24 hours from date of discharge of last package.
Four sets of the cargo manifest will still be submitted and distributed to BOC’s Intelligence Group, Enforcement Group, Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group, and BOC’s resident auditor from the Commission on Audit. – Roumina Pablo
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