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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Licensed brokers sans accreditation want recognition from Customs
THE Professional Customs Brokers Association of the Philippines Inc. (PCBAPI) has requested District Collector Billy Bibit of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) Port of Cebu to recognize licensed customs brokers not accredited with the BOC.
This is in response to the memorandum issued by Commissioner Alberto Lina last March 21 stating that customs brokers must still be accredited with the BOC pending the publication of the implementing rules and regulations of Republic Act (RA) 9280.
RA 9280, also known as the Customs Brokers Act of 2004, professionalized customs brokering and placed all licensed brokers under the control of the Professional Regulatory Board (PRB) and not anymore with the BOC.
PCBAPI Visayas Chapter president Bensing Raguin-din said that because the IRR was already published by the Manila Standard, RA 9280 already took effect last March 27, rendering Lina’s memorandum moot and academic.
Raguindin added that in the past years, customs brokers had to be accredited with the BOC based on the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP).
Licensed
“(In) our opinion, that practice is not anymore applicable because customs brokers are now licensed by the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) and are under the Professional Regulatory Board for customs brokers,” Raguindin said.
Ricky Gantuangco, PCBAPI Visayas chapter director, said that while they are not opposing Lina’s authority to issue the memorandum pursuant to Section 608 of the TCCP, they are questioning the validity of the provisions there, which are in contrast to the provisions of RA 9280.
Legal basis
“A BOC accreditation has no more legal basis because customs brokers are now licensed by PRC under RA 9280 and are supervised and controlled by the PRB,” said Gantuangco, adding that if the BOC will forcibly implement it, that is already harassment and abuse of discretion amounting to lack of authority.
He said any customs broker can file charges of harassment against customs officials who will require something from them without basis.
Gantuangco said that under the old system when brokers were under the BOC, customs officials always harassed the brokers by threatening to revoke or not to renew their accreditation if they could not come up with a common decision on a shipment.
He said harassment by customs officials will now be a thing of the past.
Gantuangco added that RA 9280 can also make customs transactions transparent because every customs broker, who facilitates the release of shipments, is now accountable for whatever he is doing. (EOB)
(April 19, 2005 issue)
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