To further improve the country’s international trade facilitation rate, the chairman of the House Committee on Economic Affairs on Thursday called for the amendment of the Republic Act 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariffication Act (CMTA).
In a news statement, AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin said House Bill 5548, which she herself filed, seeks to amend the provisions related to customs clearance, off-dock Customs facilities warehouse (CFW) and that of other third parties as defined in the CMTA.
House Bill 5548 is in line with the administration’s continuing efforts to boost the country’s trade activity and adopt global practices, she said.
According to Garin, a technical working group under the House Committee on Ways and Means has been created to discuss the proposed amendments to the law. The first TWG meeting, to be presided over by Garin, will be held on January 20, 2020.
Moreover, the lawmaker underscored that international trade facilitation is crucial to the country’s economic growth and that CMTA amendments are necessary to further improve the country’s international standing.
The main objective of the bill is to improve trade facilitation and assist the government in revenue collection, she said.
“Provisions proposing the simplification and clear definition of some processes in the customs clearance of imported goods are incorporated in the bill,” she said.
The bill seeks to simplify and clearly define some processes in the customs clearance of imported goods.
“To prevent the proliferation of off dock CFWs, a situation that will imperil the capability of BOC [Bureau of Customs] to properly supervise and control Customs operations, there is a need to define aggregate capacity utilization,” she said.
The measure will also further empower the BOC in the imposition of administrative sanction insofar as third parties are concerned.
“In addition to this, stricter administrative sanctions, specifically on the supervision and regulation of third parties, are also being proposed to curb corruption and improve the efficiency of the Bureau [of Customs],” she added.
It is to be noted that since 2017, Garin said the country’s institutional arrangement and cooperation rating plateaued at 55.56 percent from 2017 to 2019.
Should the bill be passed into law, she said, the country’s rating is expected to progress.
Since the enactment of the CMTA in 2016, Garin said the Philippines has made great strides in the United Nations (UN) Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation, rising through the ranks of 128 economies from 69.89 percent in 2017 to 80.65 percent in 2019.
With the passage of the measure, Garin hopes to improve the country’s ranking in the Top 25 developing-economy exporters, where the Philippines ranked 15th in the 2018 World Investment Report.