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Customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno ordered all ports to start cargo examinations promptly at 8:00 a.m. to ensure efficient operations
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The directive was issued following reports that inspection in some designated examination areas are conducted at a later time than prescribed
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He warned this “may result to operational delays and negatively affect trade facilitation and port efficiency”
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Nepomuceno also directed district collectors to ensure that assessment teams, stakeholders, and other personnel at their respective ports are fully prepared and present to begin examinations on time
Customs commissioner Ariel Nepomuceno ordered all ports to start cargo examinations promptly at 8:00 a.m. to ensure efficient operations.
The directive to BOC district collectors, issued through Office of the Commissioner (OCOM) Memo No. 11-2026 dated February 9, follows reports that inspections in some designated examination areas (DEAs) are being conducted at a later time than prescribed, “which may result to operational delays and negatively affect trade facilitation and port efficiency.”
Aside from the 8:00 a.m. start of DEA examinations, Nepomuceno directed district collectors to ensure that assessment teams, stakeholders, and other personnel at their respective ports are fully prepared and present to begin examinations on time.
“Internal monitoring and enforcement of this directive within your jurisdiction are expected,” he said in the memo.
Section 419 of the Republic Act (RA) No. 10863, or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act, provides that examination of goods, when required by BOC, should be conducted immediately after the goods declaration has been lodged.
Priority in the examination should be given to live animals, perishable goods, and other goods requiring immediate examination.
Pursuant to internationally accepted standards, BOC may adopt nonintrusive examination of goods, such as the use of x-ray machines.
Physical examination of the goods, meanwhile, shall be conducted when it is directed by the commissioner on account of a derogatory information; the goods are subject to an alert order issued by competent authority; the goods are electronically selected for physical examination; there are issues and controversies surrounding the goods declaration and the import clearance process; or the importer or declarant requests for the examination of the goods.
“Physical examination, when required, shall be conducted in an expeditious manner,” RA No. 10863 noted.
BOC also implements a selectivity system, an application of risk management and use of risk-based channeling (red, orange, yellow, green) to allow the agency to allocate its scarce resources to the high-risk areas while increasing the efficiency of the clearance process for low-risk shipments.
Shipments tagged under the “orange lane” are viewed as medium- to high-risk cargoes and will have to pass through x-ray scanning. Once the image is found to be suspicious, the goods will be subjected to physical examination.
Meanwhile, the “red lane” covers high-risk cargoes, which are subject to x-ray scanning and physical examination.
The “yellow lane” is for cargoes which have low to medium risk and are subject to document check while the “green lane” is dedicated to cargoes which have no to low risk and do not require documentary review or inspection.
