MANILA, Philippines — Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) has already implemented modernization projects to fully automate customs operations.
The BOC-Accounts Management Office (AMO) under the Intelligence Group has strengthened the online process for accreditation and the Customs Memorandum Orders (CMO) on the accreditation of importers and brokers—stakeholders in the day-to-day transactions of the bureau.
Online account
Interested stakeholders wishing to be accredited should register and create an account online through the BOC Portal (client.customs.gov.ph).
Once confirmed, the stakeholder may open a ticket through the same platform and upload the necessary documents for the accreditation application.
A team from AMO will receive the applications from the central hub, Customer Care Center, and will route these documents for prechecking, evaluation and approval.
Registration
Stakeholders may view the status of the application online and will also be notified when their CPRS has been activated.
A Certificate of Accreditation will be issued accordingly after approval and activation.
The BOC also issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 11-2014 and CMO No. 31-2019 pertaining to the guidelines for registration of importers and customs brokers with the BOC.
This is to ensure that accredited stakeholders are not used as dummies, thus maximizing accountability of the real importers and brokers.
Both memorandum orders are accessible online.
To date, the BOC has processed the accreditation of 14,125 stakeholders, including 1,909 customs brokers and 12,216 importers through the Bureau’s Customer Care Portal which allows online processing of applications for accreditation.
The BOC aims to further modernize and digitize all transactions to eliminate opportunities for graft and corruption, dramatically improve trade facilitation, enhance border protection, while also helping to contain the pandemic which had severely affected trade.
The World Bank recently approved an $88.28-million loan for the Philippine Customs Modernization Project to improve the country’s customs administration, reduce transaction costs and enhance predictability and transparency of the clearance process at the country’s borders.