Philippine Customs commissioner Nicanor Faeldon reiterated to all Bureau of Customs (BOC) officials and employees that all shipments that undergo x-ray examination must still pass through final assessment and evaluation before release.
“To protect the interest of the Bureau and to strengthen its mandate of border control, all x-ray offices of all ports and sub-ports, after examination, are required to course-through all shipments to the Assessment Division/Office (AD/O) of their respective ports for final evaluation and disposition as required by law and relevant customs regulations,” Faeldon stated in a memorandum dated October 28 and signed November 3.
The memorandum was issued after BOC met with port officials to address “certain concerns relative to the processing of the cargo clearance of shipments tagged under ‘RED’ Selectivity.”
Shipments tagged as “RED” are considered high-risk cargo subject to documentary and physical inspection prior to release.
Faeldon said the Formal Entry Division (FED) had raised the issue that shipments under “RED” Selectivity that are x-rayed “no longer pass through the FED for final assessment but are instead already cleared for release by x-ray personnel assigned at the Port of Manila.”
The customs chief said this procedure is irregular considering that x-ray examinations are only a tool to expedite non-intrusive probe of shipments, and that results must still be scrutinized by the customs examiner of the AD/O.
The x-ray result or scanned image of the container’s contents forms part of the import entry documents, which is the basis for proper assessment of duties and taxes, as well as for other courses of action by the customs examiner, Faeldon explained.
He further authorized the head of the Risk Management Office to coordinate with authorized personnel of the Management Information System and Technology Group to update the selectivity parameters in order to increase the number of containers for x-ray examination, after proper corrective measures in the x-ray examination procedures have been put in place. – Roumina Pablo
