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The Bureau of Customs will hold a public consultation on its new draft joint administrative order that aims to regulate the local charges imposed by international shipping lines and provide measures to address port congestion
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Consultation aims to gather comments from stakeholders before the draft JAO, currently being finalized, is signed
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The new JAO has similar intentions with the old one but will be more specific, such as identifying BOC as lead agency, as well as “all encompassing”, according to BOC deputy chief of staff Atty. Chris Noel Bendijo
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The new JAO will also adopt provisions from related bills filed in Congress
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A date has yet to be set for the consultation, but BOC is eyeing to have the signed JAO issued by July
The Bureau of Customs (BOC) will hold a public consultation on its new draft joint administrative order (JAO) that aims to regulate the local charges imposed by international shipping lines and provide measures to address port congestion.
The consultation aims to gather comments from stakeholders before the draft JAO, currently being finalized, is signed, BOC assistant commissioner Atty. Vincent Philip Maronilla said during the 2nd Stakeholders’ Summit of the United Portusers Confederation of the Philippines, Inc.
BOC deputy chief of staff Atty. Chris Noel Bendijo, in an interview at the sidelines of the event, said a technical working group has been created to revisit the old JAO and draft a new one.
The revival of the JAO comes as BOC continues its discussions with stakeholders regarding congestion issues at ports, and the longstanding issue of alleged exorbitant fees being charged by foreign shipping lines.
READ: BOC reconsiders joint order regulating foreign shipping line charges
BOC Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group deputy commissioner Atty. Agaton Teodoro Uvero earlier said BOC has revived the proposed JAO issued in February 2019 by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Finance (DOF), and Department of Transportation (DOTr).
It was intended to regulate origin and destination charges imposed by foreign carriers, and to lessen or eliminate port congestion. The JAO was part of DTI’s commitment to stakeholders to find measures to address the high cost of international shipping, a frequent complaint among stakeholders. It was later dropped as DTI in July 2019 decided to instead push for an executive order (EO) to give “more teeth” to the proposed policy. By November 2019, DTI said legislation was the best way to go as the EO “might not be enough.”
The new JAO has similar intentions with the old one but will be more specific, Bendijo said. It “expressly provides provisions for the BOC to sort of be the lead agency”, and will be “all encompassing” as it will cover not just shipping lines, but other parties such as truckers and container yards.
Bendijo also said that Finance secretary Frederick Go has instructed to check bills filed in Congress and adopt provisions that can be “utilized to address the problem now.”
Interim solution
Several bills have been filed in Congress that seek to strengthen government agencies’ oversight functions over the shipping charges imposed by international shipping lines operating in the Philippines. One of these bills, House Bill (HB) No. 10575, was approved on third and final reading in January 2022 during the 18th Congress, but failed to be tackled in the Senate.
More similar bills have been filed in the 19th and the current (20th) Congress, but all are still pending at the Committee level.
Various stakeholder and business groups have supported such bills, saying the high shipping charges “are caused by a lack of regulatory oversight as there is no agency assigned to oversee local charges imposed by international shipping lines.”
Association of International Shipping Lines president Patrick Ronas, in an interview with PortCalls at the same event, said as long as the new JAO contains the conditions from HB 10575, which he noted is “equitable” as it underwent scrutiny by stakeholders such as shipping lines, foreign forwarders, terminal operators, “then we’re happy with it.”
READ: AISL, depots offer counter-arguments to proposed BOC order on carrier charges
Bendijo said the JAO is “just your interim solution” to address current issues on port congestion and if a law is passed, “then we will just comply with the law.”
The new draft JAO will be signed by the secretaries of DOF – BOC’s mother agency, DTI, and DOTr. The target is to issue it by July.
While the JAO is still not out, BOC has continued coordination meetings with stakeholders to address high yard utilization at ports, particularly in Manila international terminals. BOC has also issued a memorandum dated June 19 providing three immediate measures to address high yard utilization and improve cargo movement in Manila international terminals.— Roumina Pablo
