The Bureau of Customs (BOC) yesterday assured big shipping lines of confidentiality of data with their submission of the advance copy of inward foreign manifest (IFM) once it starts on Monday or Wednesday next week.

The Association of International Shipping Lines (AISL) and BOC agreed that for treatment of confidential information regarding the IMF, the said advance copy will first pass through the AISL system before it goes to the BOC.

Deputy commissioner Alexander Arevalo said four IT providers have applied for accreditation to handle the information.

"We had a meeting two weeks ago with the AISL officials. We agreed that they develop a system for handling the information which will be managed by AISL," Arevalo said.

"That’s the same system we do with SEIPI, because there are confidential data that they wanted to be protected," he added.

Shipping lines through the AISL agreed to provide the BOC accurate data and information on vessels and cargoes 12 hours before arrival at the local port.

All foreign and cargo manifests must contain information such as bill of lading; marks and numbers of cartons, boxes, drums, container seal number; number of packages; kinds of packages, description of cargoes, shipper, consignee, gross weight in metric tons, measurement in cubic meters, port of origin and notify party.

BOC claimed with the advance information, they can closely monitor the importation of goods arriving in Philippine ports, prevent smuggling and fight terrorism.

Arevalo said, other shipping lines may submit the advance copy of IMF to the BOC gateway through the value added service provider (VASP).

He said the parallel run will be done at the Port of Manila.

After about two weeks when all systems are ready, it will be rolled out in big ports such as Manila International Container Port, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Batangas, Subic, Cebu, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro.

Deputy commissioner Reynaldo Nicolas, said the penalty for not complying with the advance copy requirement is from P10,000 to P30,000.

AISL handles bulk of the country’s international trade.

The advance information can expedite the release of cargo as importers and brokers will just have to present the original hard copy of the manifests.

The Customs Administrative Order states that IFM hard copies should be signed by the master of the vessel under oath during boarding.

It will then be submitted to the piers and inspection division, intelligence and enforcement group, assessment and operations coordinating group and resident auditor through the Office of the Commissioner.