THE Philippines will have to overhaul a 30-year old law which measures the amount of taxes levied on goods if the Senate decides to ratify an international treaty which will upgrade Customs procedures.

In a report, Bureau of Customs (BOC) said that it is already drafting a new law that will replace the current Tariff and Customs Code in case the Senate decides to ratify the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization of Customs Procedures, also known as the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC), by April this year.

The draft bill, which the bureau hopes to file after President Arroyo’s term, will contain the country’s new tariff and customs modernization act, which is aligned with the treaty’s provisions and other legal standards and world’s best practices.

Included in the bill, according to the BOC report, is the draft of the consolidated customs regulation which will “codify, systematize, and align all customs regulations and procedures with the standards and recommended practices” of the convention.

“On the opening of the 15th Congress, the said draft of Customs Modernization Bill will be submitted to the legislative branch of government for its passage into law. In that same period, the consolidated customs regulations structured along the lines the treaty will be completed,” the agency said.

Although the Philippines earlier intended to be the first in Southeast Asia to sign the treaty, Vietnam was able to ratify it beforehand.

The treaty includes an important general annex that contains measures necessary for a modern customs administration, indicating that once the country accepts the treaty, BOC and other government agencies would have to change its current procedures of all shipments to follow some of the treaty’s 120 binding provisions.

It includes, among others, duties and taxes; customs control; The use of information technology, risk management and audit techniques; prearrival processing, transparency of customs regulation, and partnership approach between customs and trade.

The country would be allowed three years to enforce the standards required by the treaty and five years for the transitory standards.

BOC officials said that they have already finished some of the legal documents for the country’s endorsement of the treaty, including the terms of reference, funding requirements, bills for legislation and operations manual.

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THE Philippines will have to overhaul a 30-year old law which measures the amount of taxes levied on goods if the Senate decides to ratify an international treaty which will upgrade Customs procedures.

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