New anti-smuggling measures in ports to be implemented in May

The Bureau of Customs will implement next month a number of new anti-smuggling measures, including port accreditation for oil imports. When the port accreditation measure is put into effect, only certain ports will be able to accept sensitive commodities such as oil, steel, grains, tiles, gold and vehicles. This will deter “port shopping” among importers who change ports of entry to avoid paying tax, said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima in a statement. The measures will be implemented by the BoC in accordance with an order from the Department of Finance. “Customs Commissioner [Ruffy] Biazon and I have been working on these anti-smuggling tactics, which should provide new tools to empower our customs department against smugglers. In addition, they will make customs collectors accountable for their own performance,” he said. Purisima said that the other measures include importers' submission of rolling import plans, trade statistics reconciliation, and the special monitoring of oil smuggling cases. Accredited ports must also submit monthly trade statistical reports to the Department of Finance. These will be cross-checked with data from the Department of Energy, the Philippine Ports Authority and other agencies on a per-volume and per-vessel basis to identify discrepancies in import and consumption data. The DoF earlier said that the volume of oil imports on record was lower than the actual demand indicated by data from the DoE. "Current data" from the BoC show that only 67.6 million barrels of oil were imported in the same year, "signifying a discrepancy of 39.3 million barrels that [were] likely made up through smuggling," the department said. The BoC will also require the importers of these commodities to submit their annual rolling import plans, which indicate the quantity, type, and source of the commodities as well as the location of intended port arrival. The bureau will use the plans to pre-authorize the importation of these commodities. The seaports and airports, for their part, must submit to the BoC and the Finance Department a monthly list of importations arriving per port, including shipment details such as type of commodities, date of arrival, name of country, port of origin, capacity of vessel/aircraft, and consignee details. The data will be cross-checked with data from the other departments and agencies involved on a per-volume and per-vessel basis. Also to be observed are Revenue Regulation No. 2-2012, which required importers to pay value-added tax and excise tax on all oil imports upon arrival; the submission of Income Tax Return to the BIR as one of the requirements for importers' accreditation; and the conduction of post-audit examinations on sensitive commodities imports. The BoC was also instructed to work closely and exchange information with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government units. — BM, GMA News