[ BC CUSTOMS MEMORANDUM ORDER NO. 04-2007, February 22, 2007 ]
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA) BETWEEN THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE ON ANTI-SMUGGLING
Section 1. Objective -To ensure the effective implementation of the MOA between the Department of Finance (DOF) assisted by the Bureau of Customs (BOC), and the Department of Agriculture (DA) assisted by its attached agencies, Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) and National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) in support of the Government s drive against smuggling and illegal entry of agricultural and fishery products into the Philippines.
Section 2. Coverage - This Order covers all importations of agricultural and fishery products whether entered under Consumption or Warehousing entries, and Transshipment Permits, more particularly, live animals, fish trees and plants; fresh, chilled and or frozen meat and meat products, fish and other aquatic products, being regulated by the DA, its bureaus and its attached agencies (herein referred to as DA offices for brevity).
Section 3. Operational Responsibilities:
The offices/officers named hereunder are hereby tasked and held responsible for the following activities:
3.1 The Director, Planning & Systems Development Service (PSDS) under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner, MISTG shall be responsible for coordination and establishment of the requirements of the electronic linkages/Information & Communication Technology (ICT) plans/activities in accordance with the policy directions of a National Single Window (NSW) as provided for under Executive No. 482 s 2005, to be developed with the regulatory agencies, particularly the DA offices.
3.2 The District Collector shall be responsible in establishing a Monitoring Unit that shall monitor and prepare/consolidate reports pertaining to all agricultural and fishery products imported/released and/or seized/abandoned and shall coordinate with the DA counterpart. The reports (using Microsoft Excel) shall be in accordance with the format attached hereto as follows:
3.3 The CMU, which shall consolidate all reports for submission to DA is composed of the following divisions:
3.5 The District/Subport Collectors shall require their concerned personnel to participate in technical workshops, consultations and familiarization of the processes of DA in relation to agricultural and fishery products covered by SPS Import Clearance, MAV Import Certificate, other import permits and clearances issued by the DA offices.
3.6 The Piers & Inspection Division (PID) or its equivalent unit shall provide DA with photocopy of import cargo manifest/inward foreign manifest (ICM/IFM), upon its request and the cost of which shall be borne by the latter, covering cargoes of agricultural and fishery products and those cargoes with declarations as general/mixed/assorted or catch all descriptions, which may have included agricultural/fishery products, to ensure that mandatory DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance are conducted thereon.
3.7 It shall be the responsibility of the duly designated representative of the Deputy Collector for Operations, Chief, FED, Chief, IED, Chief, WAD, Chief, PID and/or its equivalent to inform and coordinate immediately with the DA On-duty Border Inspector (DABI), for the joint mandatory BOC physical examination and DA quarantine and product safety/quality and clearance.
3.8 Maintaining the integrity, authenticity and validity of the Import Permit, MAV Certificate, Quarantine and Product Safety/Quality Inspection and Clearance (QPSQIC), SPS Import Clearance, Transport Permit (TP) and/or Quantitative Restriction (QR) is the joint responsibility of the DA offices and BOC. For this purpose the Principal Appraiser, Principal Examiner, Customs Examiner, and recording clerk/messenger involved in the examination, recording and/or transmittal of documents shall, under pain of administrative sanctions, exercise due diligence and ensure that those not covered by the SPS Import Clearance, and/or mandatory licenses and permits issued by DA, as appropriate, and those that have not undergone DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance will not be released. If warranted, they shall recommend for the immediate issuance of Warrant of Seizure and Detention against shipments subject to seizure and forfeiture proceedings under existing laws, rules and regulations.
3.9 All covered agricultural and fishery shipments including those processed under transshipment permits, those with general or vague declarations, and those which are in refrigerated containers shall be subjected to a mandatory and joint BOC-DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance.
Preliminary inspection of the shipments mentioned herein shall be conducted at the Designated Examination Area (DEA),prior to the 100% examination at the importers premised/cold storage. When the mandatory x-ray of containers is implemented, the preliminary inspection is dispensed with but the 100% examination at the importer s premises/cold storage shall still be conducted jointly by the DA and BOC.
3.10 In case of derogatory information, it shall be the responsibility of the Office concerned to issue/request for the issuance of Alert/Hold Order/s against the agricultural/fishery shipment and inform DA quarantine, for purposes of a joint BOC-DA Quarantine examination. The same originating office shall initiate seizure and forfeiture or abandonment proceedings, as the case may be, on shipments subject to derogatory information for the following violations:
3.11 Forfeited and/or abandoned agricultural or fishery products shall be disposed immediately by the Auction & Cargo Disposal Division (ACDD) or its equivalent unit in accordance with pertinent Customs laws, rules and regulations in coordination with appropriate DA office and only under the following modes:
The other modes of disposition, namely: Auction, redemption or settlement thereof shall in no case be allowed.
3.12 Where a port of entry does not have regular shipments of agricultural or fishery commodities, the Collector concerned shall create an ad hoc Monitoring Unit to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Order.
Section 4. Repeal - All orders inconsistent herewith are hereby revoked and/or modified accordingly.
Section 5. Effectivity - This Order shall take effect immediately.
Adopted: 22 Feb. 2007
(SGD.) NAPOLEON L. MORALES
Commissioner
Section 2. Coverage - This Order covers all importations of agricultural and fishery products whether entered under Consumption or Warehousing entries, and Transshipment Permits, more particularly, live animals, fish trees and plants; fresh, chilled and or frozen meat and meat products, fish and other aquatic products, being regulated by the DA, its bureaus and its attached agencies (herein referred to as DA offices for brevity).
Section 3. Operational Responsibilities:
The offices/officers named hereunder are hereby tasked and held responsible for the following activities:
3.1 The Director, Planning & Systems Development Service (PSDS) under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner, MISTG shall be responsible for coordination and establishment of the requirements of the electronic linkages/Information & Communication Technology (ICT) plans/activities in accordance with the policy directions of a National Single Window (NSW) as provided for under Executive No. 482 s 2005, to be developed with the regulatory agencies, particularly the DA offices.
3.2 The District Collector shall be responsible in establishing a Monitoring Unit that shall monitor and prepare/consolidate reports pertaining to all agricultural and fishery products imported/released and/or seized/abandoned and shall coordinate with the DA counterpart. The reports (using Microsoft Excel) shall be in accordance with the format attached hereto as follows:
Said Monitoring Unit shall prepare monthly reports summarizing the released/seized/ abandoned agricultural and fishery products, per above formats, for submission to the Central Monitoring Unit (CMU) under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner for Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group (AOCG).
3.3 The CMU, which shall consolidate all reports for submission to DA is composed of the following divisions:
3.4 The Deputy Collector for Operations, Chief, Formal Entry Division, Chief, Informal Entry Division and/or Chief, Warehousing Assessment Division or equivalent unit, as the case may be, shall maintain a record of all necessary cargo inspection and clearance documents being endorsed between BOC and DA during the process of cargo inspection, clearance and release of a shipment. One BOC/DA personnel, duly designated to inspect and/or clear a shipment shall be allowed to secure any of these documents for purposes of facilitating the release of such goods.
Due diligence must always be exercised by the duly designated BOC/DA personnel in the proper recording, monitoring and custody of inspection and clearance of documents duly processed by BOC and DA.
All transmittals of records/documents between offices or divisions and personnel shall be recorded in an accountable logbook to be issued by the Deputy Collector for Administration, in a format provided for in Annex 6 , to establish responsibility on such documents and for consistency.
All transmittals of records/documents between offices or divisions and personnel shall be recorded in an accountable logbook to be issued by the Deputy Collector for Administration, in a format provided for in Annex 6 , to establish responsibility on such documents and for consistency.
3.5 The District/Subport Collectors shall require their concerned personnel to participate in technical workshops, consultations and familiarization of the processes of DA in relation to agricultural and fishery products covered by SPS Import Clearance, MAV Import Certificate, other import permits and clearances issued by the DA offices.
3.6 The Piers & Inspection Division (PID) or its equivalent unit shall provide DA with photocopy of import cargo manifest/inward foreign manifest (ICM/IFM), upon its request and the cost of which shall be borne by the latter, covering cargoes of agricultural and fishery products and those cargoes with declarations as general/mixed/assorted or catch all descriptions, which may have included agricultural/fishery products, to ensure that mandatory DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance are conducted thereon.
The responsibility of BOC to provide DA with advance and/or real time access to ICM/IFM shall be performed upon the activation of the NSW system which shall be effected by the MISTG.
3.7 It shall be the responsibility of the duly designated representative of the Deputy Collector for Operations, Chief, FED, Chief, IED, Chief, WAD, Chief, PID and/or its equivalent to inform and coordinate immediately with the DA On-duty Border Inspector (DABI), for the joint mandatory BOC physical examination and DA quarantine and product safety/quality and clearance.
Whenever applicable, the DABI is allowed to be accompanied by one (1) private sector representative/observer who is duly accredited by the DA.
3.8 Maintaining the integrity, authenticity and validity of the Import Permit, MAV Certificate, Quarantine and Product Safety/Quality Inspection and Clearance (QPSQIC), SPS Import Clearance, Transport Permit (TP) and/or Quantitative Restriction (QR) is the joint responsibility of the DA offices and BOC. For this purpose the Principal Appraiser, Principal Examiner, Customs Examiner, and recording clerk/messenger involved in the examination, recording and/or transmittal of documents shall, under pain of administrative sanctions, exercise due diligence and ensure that those not covered by the SPS Import Clearance, and/or mandatory licenses and permits issued by DA, as appropriate, and those that have not undergone DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance will not be released. If warranted, they shall recommend for the immediate issuance of Warrant of Seizure and Detention against shipments subject to seizure and forfeiture proceedings under existing laws, rules and regulations.
3.9 All covered agricultural and fishery shipments including those processed under transshipment permits, those with general or vague declarations, and those which are in refrigerated containers shall be subjected to a mandatory and joint BOC-DA quarantine and product safety/quality inspection and clearance.
Preliminary inspection of the shipments mentioned herein shall be conducted at the Designated Examination Area (DEA),prior to the 100% examination at the importers premised/cold storage. When the mandatory x-ray of containers is implemented, the preliminary inspection is dispensed with but the 100% examination at the importer s premises/cold storage shall still be conducted jointly by the DA and BOC.
3.10 In case of derogatory information, it shall be the responsibility of the Office concerned to issue/request for the issuance of Alert/Hold Order/s against the agricultural/fishery shipment and inform DA quarantine, for purposes of a joint BOC-DA Quarantine examination. The same originating office shall initiate seizure and forfeiture or abandonment proceedings, as the case may be, on shipments subject to derogatory information for the following violations:
The appropriate DA offices shall be furnished by the District Collector with a copy of Warrant of Seizure and Detention as well as a copy of the decision/order in forfeiture or abandonment proceedings.
3.11 Forfeited and/or abandoned agricultural or fishery products shall be disposed immediately by the Auction & Cargo Disposal Division (ACDD) or its equivalent unit in accordance with pertinent Customs laws, rules and regulations in coordination with appropriate DA office and only under the following modes:
The other modes of disposition, namely: Auction, redemption or settlement thereof shall in no case be allowed.
3.12 Where a port of entry does not have regular shipments of agricultural or fishery commodities, the Collector concerned shall create an ad hoc Monitoring Unit to ensure compliance with the provisions of this Order.
Section 4. Repeal - All orders inconsistent herewith are hereby revoked and/or modified accordingly.
Section 5. Effectivity - This Order shall take effect immediately.
Adopted: 22 Feb. 2007
(SGD.) NAPOLEON L. MORALES
Commissioner