Bureau of Customs (BOC) unveiled a new website called “Customs ng Bayan” (Customs of the Nation) as part of newly-appointed Customs Commissioner John Phillip Sevilla’s initiatives to “uproot” the agency from its long history of institutionalised corruption. “We are publishing reports of almost every importation into the Philippines in December 2013. Going forward, we intend to publish this list every month,” Sevilla said in an official statement.
Each item in the list represents a specific quantity (measured by weight) of a specific item that was imported by a specific importer on a specific day. The list – 88,006 items in December 2013 alone – is organised by major product groups, using the Harmonised Standard (HS) Code classification system.
“For each item, we include information such as a description of the item imported, its HS code number and standard HS code description, what country the item came from, its value and the amount of duties and taxes collected on that item.”
The Bureau of Customs, for the past years, has been one of the country’s most prominent faces of corruption in the government. According to Sevilla, all of that is about to change as they make drastic shifts in leadership, personnel and processes. In particular, he highlighted the importance of leveraging ICT to support the administration’s reform agenda.
“We need to improve the capacity of our IT systems to comply with needed reforms,” he said, adding that the Bureau is now studying the feasibility of implementing a single IT platform for all transactions, which involves improving the planned Php 442.3 million (US$9.8 million) National Single Window (NSW) project.
The NSW will facilitate trade through efficiencies in the Customs and authorisation processes. It will allow single submission and accelerated processing of applications for licenses, permits and other authorisations required prior to undertaking a trade transaction.Source: www.futuregov.asia
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- Statement on Publication of Import Data for Dec 2013 (www.dof.gov.ph)
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