|
THE
Bureau of Customs (BOC) has accredited seven banks,
allowing their clients, especially importers, to pay
taxes and duties for their shipments electronically.
Scheduled to be deployed by the first half of the year,
the cashless transaction system will also enable
importers to clear their goods within half an hour.
According to Customs deputy commissioner Alexander
Arevalo, the agency intends to accredit all 36
member-banks of the Bankers’ Association of the
Philippines and later, lenders belonging to the Rural
Bankers’ Association of the Philippines.
Although
the customs official declined to identify the seven
banks, it was earlier reported that the agency already
held talks with Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank,
Metrobank, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp., Security
Bank, LandBank of the Philippines and the Philippine
National Bank.
The
agency will soon test its e-payment system to determine
flaws once it allows cashless transactions, Arevalo
added.
Based on
the e-payment system, it will only take banks 20 minutes
to inform the BOC if its customer has already paid
duties and taxes for shipments. For its part, it will
only take 10 minutes for the bureau to issue release
documents for the shipments.
The
30-minute time frame is the ideal clearing time period
promoted by the member-countries of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.
Arevalo
also clarified that the bureau’s e-payment system is
separate and independent from a similar arrangement
being planned by its private third-party partners.
Also
known as value-added service providers (VASPs), these
companies, which are accredited by the bureau, help
importers facilitate clearing of their goods. He said
that the VASPs will have to talk to banks on their own
if they intend to allow cashless transactions.
Intercommerce Network Service, one of three accredited
VASPs, has already inked an agreement with Citibank,
which charges P300 for every transaction.
Meanwhile, the other two VASPs, E-Konek Pilipinas and
Cargo Data Exchange Center, are also in the process of
discussing an e-payment system with banks. |
