-
The Bureau of Customs has amended its schedule of dues, fees, and charges
-
Customs Administrative Order No. 02-2025 revises various provisions of CAO 02-2024, suspended last year after stakeholders raised concerns about the new policy
-
Among others, CAO 02-2025 suspends the certificate of origin processing charge of P500 and scraps the Authorized Economic Operator Program application charge for micro and small enterprises
-
The order also exempts air express cargo operators from imposition of aircraft supervision fee, underguarding fee for transfers, off-hours fee, and customs facilities and warehouses fee
-
De minimis goods brought in by travelers, whether accompanied or unaccompanied baggage, are likewise exempt from import processing charge
-
CAO 02-2025 provides an additional section on the reimbursement of meal, transportation and lodging expenses for services rendered by authorized BOC personnel
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) has amended its schedule of dues, fees, and charges following concerns raised by stakeholders.
Customs Administrative Order (CAO) No. 02-2025 revised various provisions of CAO 02-2024, which identified and provided uniformity in BOC’s different fees; collated fees and charges from various BOC memos and orders; and renamed a few charges. The new order was approved by Finance Secretary Ralph Recto on April 19, 2025. It will take effect 15 days after publication at the Official Gazette website or a newspaper of national circulation.
Key provisions of CAO 02-2025 include:
- Suspension of the certificate of origin processing charge (P500 per certificate). Philippine Exporters Confederation, Inc. vice president for advocacy, communications, and special concerns Ma. Flordeliza Leong, in a chance interview with PortCalls on April 23, welcomed the suspension, saying it is “another win for stakeholders.”
- Deferment of imposition of aircraft supervision fee to May 1, 2025.
- Addition of section on the reimbursement of meal, transportation and lodging expenses for services rendered by authorized BOC personnel.
- Exemption of air express cargo operators (AECO) from imposition of aircraft supervision fee, underguarding fee for transfers, off-hours fee, and customs facilities and warehouses fee “due to the special nature of their operations” as provided for under Section 439 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act. The customs supervision fee for AECOs are governed by CAO No. 05-2020, which provides the clearance procedures on express shipments, as implemented by CMO No. 09-2021.
- Scrapping of the Authorized Economic Operator Program application charge for micro and small enterprises but retaining the P5,000 and P10,000 fee for medium and large enterprises, respectively.
- Payment of vessel supervision fee on the entrance and clearance of vessels per day instead of per vessel previously.
- Clarification that the supervision fee for bunkering and other emergency purposes like medical, sheltering, repair, marine accidents, dockyard layup, and others, will be per day.
- Clarification and rewording on the section on import processing charge (formerly import processing fee.) The section now includes fees on cross-border de minimis goods processed personally or directly by the claimant, de minimis goods cleared through a third party such as, but not limited to, customs broker, deconsolidator, freight forwarder, AECO, or authorized representative covered by a special power of attorney or the like; and dutiable shipments.
- Exemption from import processing charge of de minimis goods brought in by travelers, whether accompanied or unaccompanied baggage.
- Payment of charges for cancellation and/or modification of goods declaration arising from clerical or inadvertent errors may now be paid by the exporter or importer compared to the previous provision allowing payment only by the importer.
- Except when the reason of cancellation is due to system error, charges for every cancellation and/or modification of goods declaration remains at P1,000 for the first offense, P3,000 for the second offense, and P5,000 for the third or more offense.
- Imposition of P10 or 1% of filing fee, whichever is higher, as legal research fee for every document issued by BOC. Previously the fee was fixed at P10. Under CAO 02-2025, each item (customs documentary stamp, documentary stamp tax, and legal research fee) should be clearly indicated in the order of payment.
- Requirement for BOC to implement an automated system to streamline the processing, payment of import processing charge, and release of de minimis goods. The system should be designed to interoperate seamlessly with BOC’s other platforms including the eCommerce Processing System. Until full automation is achieved, BOC should establish a mechanism to ensure the efficient and convenient collection of import processing charge for de minimis goods.
The order that CAO 02-2025 revised — CAO 02-2024 — took effect in June 2024 but was suspended a month after stakeholders raised concerns about the new policy, in particular the lack of corresponding customs memorandum order (CMO) that will implement the CAO. A draft CMO implementing CAO 02-2024 was subjected to public consultation in July 2024. – Roumina Pablo
