The Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) is planning to update the Customs Regulated Imports List (CRIL) and convert it into a more secure format by June 2017.
Together with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-Bureau of Import Services (BIS), BOC has been continuously trying to improve the CRIL, according to Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla, BOC Manila International Container Port district collector, in a presentation during a briefing organized last week by the British Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines.
CRIL is a listing of regulated import products, their corresponding import regulations, and the permits required by relevant agencies. Maronilla describes it as the single authoritative list of rules and permits for regulated imports and as “a very effective trade facilitation measure.”
The list identifies more than 7,400 regulated products in need of permits from 23 trade regulatory government agencies (TRGAs). The list was created by BOC during the time of former Customs Commissioner John Sevilla, with assistance from theUnited States Agency for International Development (USAID).
CRIL was first released in April 2015, implemented in May, and updated in October of the same year.
Maronilla said they are targeting to have the list updated and converted into a more secure format by June. CRIL will be converted from its current format as an Excel file into an online application database management system to ensure data stability and security.
The newly formatted CRIL will also be linked from the BOC website to the Philippine National Trade Repository (PNTR) website, so that all stakeholders intending to import from the Philippines will only have to look at one platform.
The creation of CRIL has shown the need to simplify requirements for issuing permits and streamline the processes of TRGAs, said Maronilla. DTI-BIS, the lead agency handling the PNTR, is currently coordinating with TRGAs in reducing their requirements and processes.
He noted there are products being regulated by two or more TRGAs with policies that sometimes conflict each other. This forces BOC frontliners to “try to decide on our own” what policy to follow, thus the “inconsistency in implementing these regulations.”
As an example, Maronilla said chocolate bars need a permit from the Food and Drug Administration for being a food product, another permit from the Bureau of Animal Industry for its milk content, and a third permit from the Bureau of Plant Industry for containing nuts.
Printers, on the other hand, need a Bureau of Product Standards permit as an appliance, a National Bureau of Investigation permit since they might be used in counterfeiting, and another permit from the National Telecommunications Office if they are Wi-Fi enabled.
To further improve the list, Maronilla said BOC needs to establish or designate a permanent office or team to maintain and manage the CRIL.
BOC must also formalize partnerships with TRGAs to regularly update BOC of new import permit policies or changes to them to ensure information in CRIL is up to date. He added that a mechanism to sustain such a partnership must be formed.
“So if your processors or brokers are being asked additional documents other than the ones enumerated in the CRIL, you have a right to question whatever additional documents they are asking for,” Maronilla explained.
Before CRIL was created, Maronilla noted there was no single source of information regarding permits needed by importers and traders importing regulated products into the country, leaving them in the dark as to what permits to apply for.
Pre-CRIL, too, BOC frontliners could “only relay information that we have by way of experience” or tell importers to just check with various other government agencies instead.
Maronilla said CRIL made import permit requirements transparent for both importers and BOC frontliners.
Improvements have also been recorded using BOC’s selectivity system, which categorizes imports and is part of BOC’s risk management system.
Data from November 2014, before CRIL was released, showed that green lane shipments accounted for 15% of the total, those on the yellow lane accounted for 53%, those on the red lane 24%, and on the super green lane 8%.
In June 2015, two months after CRIL was implemented, cargoes on the green lane increased to 40%, yellow lane shipments dropped to 33%, the volume of cargoes on the red lane fell to 19%, and super green lane shipments remained at 8%.
CRIL is covered by Customs Memorandum Order No. 09-2015, which says that all BOC assessment and operations staff that process consumption, warehousing, and transshipment entries containing any product found in the CRIL, including those destined for Philippine Economic Zone Authority zones and freeports, must verify the submitted permits before final assessment. – Roumina Pablo
Image courtesy of pakorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
