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The Philippine Ports Authority has issued procedures for the automated processing of application exemption of licensed customs brokers from the agency’s accreditation and permitting requirements
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Under PPA Memorandum Order No. 013-2024 dated August 8, licensed customs brokers should go to the PPA Services site to register as a broker, apply for the exemption and pay the fee
The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) has issued procedures for the automated processing of application for exemption of licensed customs brokers from the agency’s accreditation and permitting requirements.
The exemption for licensed customs brokers system (ELCBS), an online tool, is contained in PPA Memorandum Order (MO) No. 013-2024 dated August 8 and which took effect immediately.
The ELCBS will accept applications for exemption for license, and includes processes and period of action from completed submission of requirement by the applicant to the approval in real-time.
Licensed customs brokers under PPA Administrative Order (AO) No. 04-2023 (which repealed AO 07- 2019), are exempted from securing accreditation and permit to operate (PTO) from PPA provided they are engaged in the customs broker profession only. A Certificate of Exemption (COE) should be secured from PPA for the exemption. AO 04-2023 also extended the validity of the COE from one year to three years from the date of issuance. The COE is also now valid in all ports, as well as private ports, under the jurisdiction of PPA.
READ: Customs brokers exempt from PPA accreditation for 3 years
Under AO 04-2023, one of the conditions for licensed customs brokers seeking exemption is that they should not have an outstanding account and pending legal case with PPA.
Other conditions remain, including that the customs broker should not be engaged in port and port ancillary services that require accreditation from PPA; and that the customs brokers should also not be applying for a Permit to Occupy for purposes of leasing an office within the port or be currently holding office inside the port.
To apply for exemption, licensed customs brokers should go to the PPA Services site (https://services.ppa.com.ph/) and register as broker. Once registration is successful, user can log in to apply for an exemption and pay the processing fee of P500.
All COEs for licensed customs brokers should be signed by the PPA general manager.
The approved COE will be forwarded from the Office of the General Manager to the Port Operations and Services Department for release and subsequent transmittal to the concerned port management office holding jurisdiction over the port/ports where the customs broker intends to provide services.
A 30-day monitoring period during the pilot implementation will be observed to determine user engagement and need for application fine-tuning, MO 013-2024 noted. – Roumina Pablo
