MANILA, Philippines–To further decongest the country’s ports, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has ordered that empty containers can stay within port premises without paying extra duties and taxes for only 90 days from 150 previously.
BOC Commissioner John Phillip P. Sevilla and Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima on January 5 issued Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 01-2015, repealing CAO 2-97, which had authorized the 150-day allowable dwell time of foreign containers. A number of port stakeholders complained that the empty containers languishing at the ports have been contributing to the congestion, especially in Manila.
The BOC, nonetheless, gave traders some time to remove their empty containers. For any container that will be re-exported on or before April 30, the bureau shall waive the duties and taxes previously slapped under CAO 2-97.
For the January 30-April 30 period, the BOC ordered that containers arriving as empty as well as those containing imported goods must be re-exported by July 29.
From May 1 onwards, containers that would arrive as empty must be removed from the ports within 90 days from the date of the last discharge. As for containers stuffed with imports, these must be re-exported within 90 days after their return to the shipping line, as evidenced by the Equipment Interchange Receipt or EIR, the BOC said.
If ever the empty containers are not re-exported within the mandated period, these shall be “treated as imports,” according to the BOC order. Hence, the owners of the empty containers must file import entries on top of paying duties and taxes for these “imports.”
Unmoved containers that entered on or before April 30 must have import entries filed no later than August 28, with the final payment of duties and taxes to be made within 15 days following the filing of the import entry.
For containers that came in between January 30 and April 30, the filing of import entries must be made no later than 30 days after the expiry of the 90-day deadline, while duties and taxes should be paid 15 days from the date of filing.
Starting May 1, meanwhile, containers that would not be re-exported within 90 days will also be slapped duties and taxes.
All containers that are not re-exported within the deadlines “shall be liable for the issuance of a warrant of seizure and detention,” the order read.
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