The government will look for ways to accommodate legitimate importers who failed to obtain accreditation under the Department of Finance’s (DOF) reprocessing and renewal of the certificates of importers and brokers in the country.
At the annual economic briefing held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City on Tuesday, complaints were aired regarding the new process of obtaining accreditation which now involves securing an importer’s clearance certificate (ICC) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) before an importer can even apply for accreditation with the Bureau of Customs (BOC).
Kenneth Cobonpue, chief executive of Interior Crafts of the Islands Inc., complained of the long but slow pace of processing of the accreditation documents by relevant government agencies, saying his business had been waiting for its approval by the BOC for a month now.
According to Sen. Bam Aquino, a panelist at the public forum, said Cobonpue’s company is one of the forerunners in the furniture industry in the region.
Responding on behalf of the DOF, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras gave assurance those legitimate importers who have not yet secured their accreditation as importers from the BOC should have them soon. Customs Commissioner John Phillip “Sunny” P. Sevilla explained how the new process for renewing accreditation was implemented until the deadline that lapsed last July 31. He noted that such deadline was extended twice to allow existing importers to renew their accreditations.
