Customs forging stronger relations with US, Japan, SoKor counterparts

The Department of Finance (DOF) has ordered the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to strengthen cooperation with its counterparts in South Korea, Japan and the US by forging data exchange agreements with them, a move seen to help efficiently monitor shipments and prevent smuggling in the country.

During a recent executive committee meeting, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III directed BOC officials to set up data exchange arrangements with three of the country’s major trading partners in order to facilitate the timely sharing of trade information with these countries.

The arrangement, he said, is envisioned to be like the one agreed on by BOC chief Isidro Lapeña and the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) last February.

According to Dominguez, he wants BOC to closely work with China, South Korea, Japan and the US in monitoring shipments and checking discrepancies in import and export data.

“I asked him (Lapeña) to go to four countries, China, Japan, Korea and the US. These are our four biggest trading partners,” he said.

The finance chief said the BOC should also establish communication lines and coordinate with the heads of the customs agencies of these four countries to accomplish this goal.

With the proposed arrangement, the Philippine government wants to get access to trade data on the volume and value of goods exported by South Korea, Japan and the US to the Philippines.

This will be compared to the volume and value of goods imported by local traders from these countries, as reported to the BOC, to check for any discrepancies and possible smuggling.

Earlier, Lapeña said reviewing and reconciling trade data between the Philippines and other countries is part of the measures initiated by the bureau to strengthen its fight against smugglers and to improve its revenue collections.

In line with this, Lapeña visited his Chinese counterpart in Beijing last February.

The BOC said Lapeña and GACC deputy director Zou Zhiwu had discussed measures to strengthen the cooperation between both agencies. They had also agreed on the establishment of a data exchange system to facilitate the sharing of trade information and to aid them in their respective campaigns against smuggling.

The customs chief also requested from GACC data on the country’s imports and exports to the Philippines from 2015 to 2017, monthly or quarterly export and import data from China to the Philippines by commodity in 2018, and export data on all shipments going to the Philippines.