By Ariel Fernandez
The Bureau of Customs has issued Customs Memorandum Order No. 08-2020 which provides the guidelines on the implementation of Zero Contact Policy at BOC’s Assessment Offices.
The order applies to all clients dealing with BOC such as Licensed Customs Brokers, declarants, importers, customs broker’s representatives, and other stakeholders which covers the processing of goods declaration filed with the assessment offices, stakeholder engagement meetings, and other events and activities.
Under the CMO, documents to be filed with the Bureau must be submitted in hard and electronic Portable Document Format (PDF). Only PDF file type shall be accepted for electronic copies and each document must be submitted as a separate file.
The hardcopy of the goods declaration and the corresponding attachments may be submitted to the Customer Care Center (CCC), or Entry Processing Unit (EPU) or equivalent unit if CCC is not yet operational at the concerned Port. Soft copies of the scanned documents, on the other hand, may be submitted either thru the Customer Care Portal System (CCPs) or in an external drive (e.g. USB flash drive) to be delivered with the hard copy.
Stakeholders may verify the status of their goods declaration at any time using the Goods Declaration Verification System (GDVS) links or thru the CCPS by opening a ticket and providing the Goods Declaration Reference No. (Entry No.), Consignee name, and other importation details as required. Only one ticket per goods declaration number is allowed, otherwise, duplicate tickets will be closed.
Through the CCPS, the stakeholders may also open an appointment ticket by selecting “Appointment” in the system as the help topic only for valid reasons and still subject for BOC’s approval. This may include personal appearance to witness physical examination, request for visits which will be subject to the approval of the District Collector and upon recommendation of the Chief FED. Other appointments include stakeholder engagement meeting and other official events and activities within the BOC premises.
Those with approved appointments shall inform the Customer Care Center or the ESS personnel on-duty of the ticket number for verification in the system and for issuance of an Access Pass ID. No stakeholder inside the Assessment Area is allowed except for those with approved appointment ticket and Access pass ID.
Finally, an alternative link will be provided to the importer/ declarant as a backup system where they may follow-up or inquire on the status of goods declaration in the event of system malfunction or links becomes inaccessible.