DA adopts e-commerce tech in processing of import permits

The tedious and long process of getting a license to import agricultural products will soon be shortened through computerization and the adoption of electronic-commerce (e-commerce), Agriculture Secretary Edgardo J. Angara said.

The Department of Agriculture (DA), the Bureau of Customs (BOC), Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) signed yesterday a memorandum of agreement to computerize the procedures in the issuance of licenses to importers of agricultural products.

"This would surely eliminate spurious public documents from circulating and would ensure transparency in the issuance of import permits for agricultural products," said Angara.

The MOA, which was signed by Angara, BOC Commissioner Renato Ampil, PCCI president Miguel Varela and Philexports president Sergio-Ortiz Luis Jr., aims to cut the processing of import permits for agricultural products from seven working days to minutes.

Under the old procedure, persons wanting to import farm goods should personally file their applications at the DA central office. Application papers will then pass through several offices for the signatures of different DA officials.

This tedious process usually causes delays, said Angara.

To do away with these inefficiencies, the DA and Philexport have embarked on the Electronic Import Licensing System (EILS) project. Philexport has had a track record of shortening the processing of export documents through computerization from days to a maximum of 20 minutes in its One-Stop-Export Processing and Documentation units in Manila, Subic and Clark.

Under the memo of agreement, Philexport and PCCI will source the funding for the project, make a study on its implementation and complete the computerization. The two organizations will also help the DA by providing consultants, computer experts and other resource persons needed in the project.

For its part, the Bureau of Customs will also play a crucial role in the project by interfacing its Automated Customs Operating Systems with the EILS to pave the way for the electronic transmittal of import licenses issued by the DA to the Customs databank.

The EILS is one of the major steps to realize the DA’s vision to automate its systems and get wired to other agencies of government.

The computerization of import licensing is in compliance to the E-Commerce Law, which mandates all government agencies to computerize its operation by year 2002, said Angara.