New export clearance scheme snags

BUSINESSES’ shift to online processing of export documents, as required by the Bureau of Customs, has been slower than expected, requiring the postponement of the deadline for registration with this system.

The deadline for exporters to register for the “automated export declaration system,” originally slated for Feb. 28, has been pushed back to a still-unspecified date, officials from the Trade department and Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. (Philexport) said.

The new system forms part of an overall thrust to improve the competitiveness of Philippine exports against those of its peers.

“In a meeting with the Bureau of Customs [on] Feb. 17, concerns were discussed on the electronic-to-mobile exports implementation on Feb. 28 for Port of Manila, Manila International Container Port and Port of Batangas,” an internal Philexport circular made available to BusinessWorld stated.

“Pending clarifications on these issues and concerns, implementation…on Feb. 28 has been postponed to a later date. A formal Customs announcement will be issued,” the circular read.

Only a “small percentage” of exporters have signed up for the so-called Client Profile Registration System, Philexport export facilitation manager Dianne DV. Masalunga said in a telephone interview.

Such a registration is needed for firms to electronically lodge export declarations, a document all outbound shipments need to exit ports.

The postponement was also needed as Customs has yet to clarify “inconsistencies” in memoranda as to whether locators in economic zones, already using a different online system, will be affected by the new scheme, Ms. Masalunga said.

This development is expected to weigh on efforts to improve the Philippines’ competitiveness in trade, with the country ranking 148th out of 183 countries in the World Bank’s 2011 Doing Business report on red tape. Exporters currently need to hurdle through eight documents versus the average of six in East Asia and Pacific, that report had noted.

In a text message yesterday, Senen M. Perlada, director of the Trade department’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, noted that the Customs bureau is preparing to issue an order setting a new schedule for implementation of the automated export declaration system.

Customs officials couldn’t be immediately reached to confirm the postponement of the deadline for registration with the new system, nor the preparation of a new implementation schedule. — Jessica Anne D. Hermosa, Businessworld