New law will bring BOC up-to-date, says Biazon

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is set to embark on what Commissioner Ruffy Biazon calls a “proactive lobby and advocacy” to get the customs modernization bill passed in the 16th Congress.

Biazon on Sunday expressed hope the proposed legislation would be a priority of the Aquino administration.

“We want it passed before President Aquino’s term ends in 2016,” he said in a statement.

The former Muntinlupa City representative asserted that “the first abrasive thing that we should do to reform the bureau is to update the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines,” which was passed into law in 1957.

“All other efforts would be incomplete if we don’t do this basic step. It contributes to our preparations for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Single Window and Customs integration program in 2015. It also aims to comply with our obligations under the World Trade Organization and World Customs Organization,” he said.

In a recent blog, Biazon pointed out that the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP) was “noncompliant with the revised Kyoto Convention and contains provisions that are in dire need of amendment or adjustment to suit current global standards and policies.”

He noted that “some of the provisions of the TCCP hinder us from being competitive in the global business environment.”

He cited, among others, “Section 709 of the TCCP which prescribes a de minimis value of P10 and has remained unchanged up to now.”

“But in the past 56 years, so much has changed in the global trading environment that the de minimis value of P10 is close to absurd. De minimis is the value at which it would cost the government more resources to collect duties than to simply waive them,” he explained.

According to the BOC head, “If the de minimis value is updated to present standards, it would enhance national competitiveness by enabling the expedited clearance of low-value goods and allow customs to focus its energies and efforts in going for the high-value and high-risk goods for maximum results in revenue collection and enforcement.”

Biazon said he strongly believed that “in order to reform and modernize the Bureau of Customs, we must modernize our policies.”

“Sadly, the customs modernization bill has been languishing in legislative limbo for quite some time. It did not pass in the 14th as well as the 15th Congress. But with many of our policy makers’ seeming interest in the goings-on at customs, some even proclaiming a crusade of reform, I hope the rhetoric would translate to support for this definitely positive step toward reform in the next Congress,” he said.