Customs warns thousands of importers with wrong addresses, numbers

MANILA, Philippines – The Bureau of Customs (BOC) warned thousands of importers that they could lose their accreditation if they fail to provide the agency with their correct or updated office addresses and contact details. 

This was after the bureau found that more than 3,000 importers had outdated or incorrect phone numbers or email addresses, based on what they submitted to the agency. There were 1,206 importers whose numbers were incorrect or non-working, while 2,365 importers had invalid email addresses.

The list of these importers is posted on the BOC’s website and official Facebook page.

Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon on Tuesday, January 17, urged the importers to update their records with the BOC: “This is one of the ways to better serve the importers, so they should also do their duty by informing us of any changes in their phone numbers or email addresses.”

He also cited Section 7 of Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 11-2014, which allows the BOC to suspend the accreditation of importers who will fail to submit their updated contact details to the bureau’s Account Management Office (AMO) within 30 days from the posting of the list.

According to Section 8.b of the order, the E2M CPRS access of these importers will also be deactivated.

Importers on the list should submit the following documents to the AMO:

• Letter request to BOC-AMO for the amendment of CPRS data/information on email addresses and/or phone number/s;
• Printout of importer’s CPRS profile as amended
• Printout of VASPS’s email notification of “STORED” CPRS profile

Importers may call AMO at 0921-2304-519 or 0915-0525-442 to coordinate. – Rappler.com