New BOC order on dues, fees to take effect next month

• The Bureau of Customs has issued an order covering fees for services rendered by its personnel

• Customs Administrative Order No. 02-2024 was issued after the initial order for customs dues, fees and charges—CAO 01-2024—did not take effect after a gap and a typographical error in the numbering of one of its items was discovered

• CAO 02-2024 will take effect 30 days after its complete publication at the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of national circulation

The new Bureau of Customs (BOC) order on dues and fees for services rendered by its personnel will take effect next month.

Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 02-2024 was issued with the original order for new customs dues, fees and charges—CAO 01-2024—not having taken effect. Prior to CAO 01-2024’s publication in a newspaper of general circulation, BOC said it noticed a gap and a typographical error in the numbering of Item 5.5 (import processing charge) of the order.

READ: BOC order on adjusted fees still in limbo

Upon advice of its mother agency, the Department of Finance, BOC rectified the gap and typographical error and submitted the updated version of the order to the former for approval.

CAO 02-2024 will take effect on June 10, 30 days after its publication on May 11 in a newspaper of national circulation.

CAO 02-2024, like CAO 01-2024, aims to identify and provide uniformity in the different fees; collate fees and charges from various BOC memos and orders; and rename a few charges.

It also aims to provide a mechanism for the payment of overtime work and other services rendered by BOC personnel.

It covers all service fees, dues and charges collected by BOC from shipping lines, airlines, air express operators, importers, exporters, customs brokers, freight forwarders, consolidators, deconsolidators, logistics providers, transshippers, operators of customs bonded warehouses (CBW) and other customs facilities and warehouses (CFW), free zone locators or registered enterprises, third-party solutions providers, and all other parties served by the bureau.

Under CAO 02-2024, service fees to be collected will accrue to the trust fund, which may be used to pay for allowances and overtime services of BOC personnel.

Customs dues and charges, meanwhile, will go to the general fund.

A customs memorandum order governing the utilization of collected service fees, including procedures for their payment to authorized customs personnel in accordance with existing auditing, accounting and other rules and regulations, will later be issued.

The customs service fees are as follows:

1. Vessel supervision fee
   • Boarding formalities per vessel – P2,250
   • Entrance and clearance per day – P1,087
   • Loading and unloading per day – P4,500
   • Supervision fee for bunkering and other emergency purposes – P2,250
2. Aircraft supervision fee – P4,500
3. Free zone locator supervision fee
   • From airport to a free zone – P100 per goods declaration
   • From seaport to a free zone – P500 per container not exceeding 30 kilometers (km); P1,000 exceeding 30 km
   • From a free zone to a port of loading of goods for export – P500 per container not exceeding 30 km; P1,000 exceeding 30 km
   • From one free zone to another free zone – P2,000 per MBL
   • From one locator to another locator within the same zone- P500 per transfer note
4. Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) annual supervision fee
   • Micro – with total assets of not more than P3 million, no fee
   • Small – with total assets of P3,000,001.00 million but not more than P15 million, P9,000 fee
   • Medium – with total assets of P15,000,001.00 million but not more than P100 million, P24,000 fee
   • Large – with total assets of more than P100 million, P36,000 fee
5. Underguarding fee for transfers
   • Airport
     • Discharging aircraft to off-terminal CFW – P500 per transfer note
     • From off-terminal CFW to CBW under the same port – P500 per transfer note
     • From CBW to off-terminal CFW under the same port – P500 per transfer note
     • From off-terminal CFW to carrying aircraft – P500 per transfer note
     • From office of exchange to CFW under the same port – P500 per transfer note
     • From off-terminal CFW to Office of Exchange – P500 per transfer note
     • From off-terminal CFW to another off-terminal CFW under the same port – P500 per transfer note
   • • Seaport
       • From Terminal Facility (CFW) to Off-Dock CFW under the same port – P500 per P-SAD
       • From off-dock cfw to terminal facility (CFW) under the same port – P500 per transfer note
       • From terminal facility (CFW) to office of exchange under the same port – P500 per transfer note
       • From office of exchange to terminal facility (CFW) under the same port – P500 per transfer note

6. Off-hours fee – P50 for the processing of every goods declaration beyond the regular working hours and during Saturdays, Sundays and holidays for the transfer of goods to the free zones
7. Special flight supervision fee – US$175 for every arrival or departure of chartered or special flights
8. Bulk and break-bulk discharge port survey fee – P1,000 for every Discharge Port Survey Report
9. Super Green Lane (SGL) processing fee for list of importables – P1,000 per LOI
10. Service and storage fees (for in-bond baggage)

• Loose – P50 first 24 hours, P100 every 24 hours thereafter
• Cabin – P100 first 24 hours, P200 every 24 hours thereafter
• Suit case – P200 first 24 hours, P400 every 24 hours thereafter
• Odd size – P400 first 24 hours, P600 every 24 hours thereafter

11. CFW fee

• per house airway bill (HAWB) – P25
• per master airway bill (MAWB) in case of consolidated shipments – P50

12. Monitoring and supervision fee – equivalent to 10% of fees collected in accordance with published rates to be collected from accredited third-party service providers

Customs dues and charges are the following:

• Goods declaration for transit charge (formerly cargo transfer fee)
• Charge of customs documentary stamp (CDS) and Bureau of Internal Revenue documentary stamp tax
• Processing charge for consolidated balikbayan box
• Processing charge for returning resident
• Import processing charge (formerly import processing fee)
• Export processing charge
• Refund processing charge
• Appeal fee
• Request for legal opinion
• Registration or accreditation charge for new application or renewal
• Third parties annual registration charge
• AEO application charge
• Accreditation or renewal charge by the third-party service provider
• Cancellation or modification of goods declaration charges
• Amendment of manifest/bill of lading (BL)/air way bill (AWB)
• Request for creation of staging BL/AWB
• Charge for every request for advance ruling (classification and rules of origin)
• Permit charges
• Accreditation as condemnation facility
• Administrative charges for co-loading
• Condemnation of cargoes
• Registration and participation in public auction
• Customs broker registration charge (sole proprietorship)
• Registration of general professional partnership of customs broker
• Intellectual property right recordation charge
• Certification charge
• Service charge for issuance of certified true copy of document
• Service charge for issuance of photocopy of document
• Service charge for issuance of soft copy of document
• Circularization charge
• Certificate of origin processing charge
• Tax credit certificate charge
• Annual supervision charge (formerly annual supervision fee) for CBWs
• CFW annual supervision charge
• SGL service charge (formerly SGL service fee)
• Container security charge (formerly container security fee)

Further, for every document issued by BOC, a customs documentary stamp of P100, documentary stamp tax of P30, and legal research fee of P10 will be collected. – Roumina Pablo