Faeldon, Dominguez sign order fast-tracking cargo through ports

AP FILE PHOTO

Traders that fully comply with all customs rules will be allowed to fast-track shipments at the country’s ports under the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) program.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and former Customs Commissioner Nicanor E. Faeldon on July 17 signed Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 5-2017, which forms part of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act No. 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA).

In a statement Saturday, the Bureau of Customs explained that the AEO program “gives incentives to stakeholders with high level of compliance with customs rules and regulations.”

“The program has three components namely: cargo security system, which will ensure the integrity and security of the imported good; trade clearance system that enables highly compliant stakeholders to clear their goods with minimum customs border intervention; and mutual recognition arrangement (MRA), which sets process to implement and maintain mutual recognition between two or more customs administrations,” the BOC said.

Applicants to become AEO “must meet the standard of reliability and trustworthiness, which shall be measured by its level of risk, the nature of the business and the conduct of its importation as against customs revenue, compliance, and cargo security,” the BOC said.

Among the perks of become an AEO include the following: advance cargo clearance; exemption from renewal of accreditation, processing and selectivity lane for AEO shipment with no documentary, physical and non-intrusive examination; expedited customs clearance for exports; as well as issuance of one-time exemption certificate, the BOC said.

But under CAO 5-2017, “any false or misleading information in the documents submitted as well as the commission of customs laws violation shall be grounds for denial of the application,” the BOC said.

Eligible to apply for AEO accreditation include airlines, customs brokers, customs bonded warehouses, customs facility warehouses, exporters, importers, local and international freight forwarders with offices in the Philippines, shipping lines, local transport operators, authorized Agent Banks, local transport operators, as well as foreign suppliers, manufacturers and other firms in the global logistics and supply chain accredited as an AEO by a foreign country with which the Philippines has an existing MRA, the BOC said. CBB