BOC justifies provisional release of goods

Photo from the Bureau of Customs

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Monday clarified that the P394 million worth of goods it released without import permits last year were duly assessed with correct duties and taxes, including excises, which were properly collected.

Vincent Maronilla, spokesperson for the BOC, explained that the commodities were not subject to government regulatory requirements and were filed under a provisional goods declaration, which allows the online submission of certain commodity requirements within 45 days of filing.

“Those goods were released provisionally. We will still require them to produce those documents,” explained Maronilla when sought to comment on the Commission on Audit report that it processed and released at Manila International Container Port and Port of Manila regulated commodities worth P394 million despite the lack of import permits and other supporting documents.

“If you remember, 2020 was the height of pandemic, no offices were operating; no regulatory agency was able to issue permits on time,” he said.

Maronilla said the BOC adopted the provisional goods declaration, which was an incomplete declaration allowing tentative release of shipments as long as pending necessary information or documents shall be provided within a reasonable period of time.

“Under that particular scheme we were able to release their shipment even without complete documentation on the undertaking that they will submit them 45 days after and extendible for another 45 days.

The BOC, Maronilla added, is also expected to release shipments expeditiously.

“It’s also difficult to hold these goods. We also don’t want our importers to incur additional cost, and we don’t want to be congested because of delayed processing of permits,” the customs official said.