The Bureau of Customs will go over the records of about 60 rice importers in the country to check whether they are liable for any violation such as payment deficiency of duties and taxes and penalty.   

Under its drive to collect revenue due to the government from agricultural products, the bureau said Thursday it will conduct a post clearance audit on the 60 rice importers.

“The conduct of post clearance audit is a continuing effort by the bureau which aims to check and verify the compliance of importers to customs laws and regulations and to determine whether they are liable for the payment of deficiency customs duties, taxes, and other charges, including any fine or penalty,” the Customs bureau said.

For this year, the audit shall cover the importations of rice of the 60 importers during the period of January 1 to June 30.

According to the bureau, this comes in light of the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL) and after finding out that there was a low level of compliance among the audited rice importers in 2019, adding that 85.45 percent of the audited importers committed violations of the customs laws and regulations.

Auditees were found liable for the payment of P1.417 billion in deficiency customs duties, penalties, surcharges, and interest due to undervaluation, misclassification, and/or understatement of freight and insurance charges.

The audit also found that undervaluation of the declared customs value remains to be the primary risk in revenue collection from rice imports, accounting for P497 million or 36.08 percent of the total deficiency assessment.

Aside from the the audit, the bureau said it has also intensified its intelligence and enforcement measures, verifying reports from concerned citizens and stakeholders such as local farmer federations, in order to interdict smuggled rice into the country.

“These efforts are also intended to protect the interests of our local federation of farmers and other producers of agricultural products directly affected by the RTL. Thus, strict legal measures and penalties will be imposed on those importers that will be found involved in the smuggling of agricultural products and other commodities into the country,” the bureau furthered.