BOC, GACC strengthen coordination, data exchange

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Customs (BOC) and its counterpart in China have agreed to establish a system which would allow them to facilitate the timely exchange of trade information and aid them in their respective fights against smuggling.

In a report to the Department of Finance, Customs deputy commissioner Edward James Dy Buco said Customs commissioner Isidro Lapeña and General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) deputy director Zou Zhiwu have discussed measures to strengthen the cooperation between both agencies during a meeting in China last month.

Among the initiatives they have agreed upon is the designation of focal persons who would be tasked to facilitate communication and coordination between the BOC and GACC.

Dy Buco said a cooperative agreement between the BOC and the GACC is also scheduled to be signed during a proposed visit of Chinese officials to Manila in April this year.

According to the official, Lapeña also met with director Yuan Ziwei and deputy director Zhao Ru Xiao of the GACC’s International Cooperation Division to discuss the progress of the Philippines-China agreement concerning cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matter, which was signed in April 2010.

He said the BOC also requested from its Chinese counterpart 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.

Commissioner Lapeña visited China last month following the directive of Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez to investigate the significant gap between Chinese data on export volumes to the Philippines versus the Philippine data on imports from China.

Citing official trade data from Beijing, Dominguez said Chinese exports to the Philippines was recorded at $17.77 billion from January to July 2017.

However, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed reported imports from China during the same period only totaled $9.24 billion, 48 percent or $8.53 billion below the Chinese figure.

Lapeña earlier said the discrepancy between Chinese and Philippine data may be attributed to the gross misdeclaration and undervaluation of goods in terms of volume or weight and the possible use of “consignees for hire.”

He said these schemes allow the practice of benchmarking and submission of fake documents. The latter, he said, also gives importers the chance to evade the scrutiny of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).