Sunday, October 12, 2008 Customs bureau explains role in melamine regulation By Jill Beltran
CUSTOMS Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the agency should not be blamed for the entry of several goods containing melamine in the country.
Morales explained on Saturday that the Bureau of Customs (BOC) task is simply to double-check the documents of every importation and not to test a product for melamine content.
"Even without the banning, there are two mandatory requirements should an importer furnished for their product is allowed to enter the country, one is the certificate of product registration and second license to operate," he said.
"It is not our job to test products. We don't have laboratory in order to determine if indeed a milk have contained melamine or not," the commissioner defended.
When there was still no ban of milk products from China, all imported products are being tested by the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) for quality purposes.
After assessment, a certificate of product registration and license to operate will be issued to the importer.
Morales said these are the two things referred to as the mandatory requirements of an importer. If they complied with the said requirement, they will be allowed by the BOC to export their products in the country.
"Well when it comes to the milk, when there was still no issue about melamine, milk is a regulated importation. Before importation, they should submit a certificate of product registration, which is issued by BFAD. This certificate of product registration will not be issued without testing from BFAD. Maybe when the time BFAD issued a product registration, melamine is not yet detected," he said.
"License to operate is also issued by BFAD. That's the first stage control of Customs. When they file an import entry they have to submit these two documents," added Morales.
With this system of regulation, Morales simply said that their job is easy: "validate and check the documents importers have."
As for BOC's action on melamine issue, Morales asserted that he already ordered all shipments of dairy and milk products originating or manufacturing in China to be placed under alert.
He also issued a memorandum that all shipment be subjected to laboratory analysis. The product will not be released if there is no clearance from BFAD.
Aside from laboratory analysis, Morales issued Customs Memorandum Order (MO) 215-2008, which orders the implementation of the MO of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III "banning the importation, distribution, sale or offer for sale all infant formula and other milk products emanating from China and revoking all existing import licenses."
Meanwhile, in view of the news reports on imported milk from China that allegedly contain melamine and released from Customs, Morales ordered on October 8 the district collectors to retrieve all import entries filed since January 2008 with the import documents and required government permits to account for all shipments of milk.
To strictly monitor all shipments of milk from China that may have arrived after the date of the DOH ban, Morales also ordered on October 9 for the list of all inward foreign manifests with milk shipments to ensure that these are not released.
At present "all importation from china is all banned." Morales explained that stakeholders who have certificate of registration and license to operate before the ban can be revoke if product is positive with melamine.
One who will not comply with the said directive will be charged with smuggling.
"That milk coming from China since it is ban is a contraband article," he said.
A condemnation committee or an interagency committee was likewise organized by the government for melamine regulation. It is headed by the BOC. The interagency includes BFAD, Department of Health (DOH), Department of Trade and Industry, and Commission on Audit (COA).
On the banned container already reached the country, Morales said BOC's stand is for the containers "to be re-exported to the country of export at the expense of the stakeholder."
If a product entered the country with no complete documents, Morales vowed that they are ready to file charges to the importers as well as the Customs employees accountable with such transaction.
"They (Customs employees) can be charged administratively and we will file cases against the importer as well as the broker," he said.
