Single pass for cargo trucks launched this month

0
1468
Image by Ely Penner from Pixabay
  • The Anti-Red Tape Authority will launch this January the Unified Logistics Pass, a single pass for cargo trucks
  • In the form of a Quick Response code, the ULP eliminates various permits, licenses and pass-through stickers required of truckers by various agencies
  • It aims to facilitate movement and port-entry of cargo trucks, ensuring the unhampered flow of goods
  • ULP seeks to connect to the Bureau of Customs’ Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo and PEZA’s scanning system
  • ARTA partners will sign a MOA and joint memorandum circular for the ULP guidelines

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) will launch this month the Unified Logistics Pass (ULP), a single pass that eliminates various permits, licenses and pass-through stickers required of truckers by economic zones, ports and local government units.

In the form of a Quick Response code, the ULP is designed to facilitate movement and ease of port-entry of cargo trucks, ensuring unhampered flow of goods.

ARTA deputy director general Atty. Ernesto Perez earlier said the ULP will adopt a single registration scheme for trucking companies, with a QR code accepted by all government agencies, including LGUs, port authorities, economic zones and police forces.

Perez noted then how LGUs, despite a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) order in 2006 to stop issuing pass-through stickers, continued to force cargo trucks to pay for passage through their jurisdictions.

Stakeholders, especially truckers, have long complained about the numerous pass-through fees collected by LGUs, especially those in Metro Manila.

There are also plans for the ULP to connect to the Bureau of Customs’ Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo and Philippine Economic Zone Authority’s (PEZA) scanning system.

ARTA partner agencies and partners will sign a memorandum of agreement and joint memorandum circular (JMC) on ULP guidelines.

READ: ARTA drafts circular on single travel pass for cargo trucks

MOA signatories include the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Land Transportation Office, Department of Trade and Industry, PEZA, DILG, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Philippine Ports Authority, Department of Science and Technology, Clark Development Corporation, and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Also set to sign the agreement are port operators Asian Terminal, Inc.; International Container Terminal Services, Inc.; Manila Harbor Center Port Services, Inc.; Manila North Harbour Port, Inc.; and partners University of the Philippines Public Administration Research and Extension Services-Regulatory Reform Support Program for National Development as well as DevConnect Philippines, Inc.

The ULP is a migration from RapidPass, an online system implemented in 2020 giving frontliners and Allowed Persons Outside of Residences quick passage through checkpoints in Metro Manila during community quarantine periods.

RapidPass developer DevConnect and DICT are assisting in the ULP project.

The ULP is part of ARTA’s National Effort for the Harmonization of Efficient Measures of Inter-related Agencies or Project NEHEMIA. Launched in March 2020, Project NEHEMIA is a sector-based streamlining effort that involves both capacity building with identified agencies and public hearings with stakeholders regarding existing and new regulations.

Logistics is one of five sectors included in the first phase of Project NEHEMIA. The goal is to reduce within 52 weeks the time, cost, requirements, and procedures involved in government transactions in sectors of economic and social significance.

In October 2020, ARTA launched Project NEHEMIA for the logistics sector with the vision to integrate all sticker requirements imposed on cargo trucks by government agencies and LGUs.

READ: ARTA launches project cutting red tape in logistics sector

ARTA’s Perez said the LTFRB agreed to be the ULP system owner and “root regulator” that will accept sticker requirements of agencies.

In April 2021, ARTA, DILG and Department of Finance signed JMC 2021-01, which provides the omnibus guidelines for the suspension of LGUs’ imposition and collection of illegal fees and taxes relative to the transport of goods and products.

JMC reiterates DILG Memorandum Circular No. 2018-033, issued in 2018 and which directs LGUs to “refrain from enforcing any existing ordinance authorizing the levy of fees and taxes on their inter-province transport of goods and merchandise, regulatory fees in local ports, and other additional taxes, fees or charges in any form upon the transport of goods and merchandise.” – Roumina Pablo