PR
In line with the government’s thrust of enhancing customs procedures towards efficient and world-class trade facilitation, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Investment Coordination Committee (ICC), during its meeting last March 6, 2020, has approved the Philippine Customs Modernization Project of the Bureau of Customs (BOC) and recommended for its final approval by the NEDA Board chaired by President Rodrigo Duterte.
The modernization and process reengineering of the BOC is pursuant to Section 109 of the Republic Act 10863 (Customs Modernization and Tariff Act) which directs the Bureau to utilize Information & Communication Technology (ICT) in enhancing customs control for a cost-effective and efficient customs operation geared towards a paperless environment.
The project can be considered part of the Build Build Build project of the administration, centered on building the ICT infrustructure of the BOC.
It further supports the present BOC leadership’s 10-Point Priority Program anchored on organizational efficiency, upgrading individual proficiency and strengthening institutional capabilities through automation of processes and integration of systems for ease of doing business. This covers streamlining of operations, development of systems and deployment of ICT infrastructure, in line with international standards. It also aims to support key border management agencies to reform and achieve transparency, accountability and predictability; reduce time to process imports and exports; lower trade transaction costs ; and improve revenue collection performance, while strengthening controls associated with community protection and national security objectives.
Among the features of the project is the modernization of frontline and back-office functions of the BOC through a Customs Processing System (CPS) and the Administrative Back-Office Enterprise Resource Planning (ABERP). The CPS will encompass all the features and functionalities of the current E2M customs module; a strengthened value-added functions and an integrated system for both imports and exports to be operated over a single environment platform capable of paperless transaction processing. The ABERP will complement the modernization of the frontline services through integration, management, and automation of the BOC’s back-office functions related to technology, services, and human resources.
The Philippine Modernization Project will be partly financed by the World Bank. The project cost is Php 5.44 billion, with 84.58% to be financed through Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan, while the remaining 15.42% will be financed through local funds.
The project’s construction period will be for five (5) years beginning 2020 with partial implementation to start on the 4th year or 2023 with full completion in 2024.
With the full automation of the BOC’s core processes, trade facilitation will vastly improve, revenue collection will increase, and processing time and trade costs will significantly be reduced.
