GUIDELINES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND PILOT PROJECT FOR THE ASEAN SELF-CERTIFICATION SYSTEM AND THE ACCREDITATION OF “CERTIFIED EXPORTERS”

I. OBJECTIVES

1. To implement Customs Administrative Order No. 142 Implementing
   the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) among the Governments of the
   Participating Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian
   Nations (ASEAN) on the Second Pilot Project for the Implementation of a
   Regional Self-Certification System.
2. To establish the parameters and procedure in the accreditation of producers/manufacturers as Certified Exporters.
3. To set the mechanics for invoice declaration.

II. DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. ATIGA refers to the ASEAN Trade in Goods
   Agreement signed on 26 February 2009 in Cha-am, Thailand among ASEAN
   Member States to achieve free flow of goods in ASEAN as one of the
   principal means to establish a single market and production base for the
   deeper economic integration of the region towards the realization of
   the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015;
2. Authorization is a privilege granted by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to Certified Exporters.
3. Certificate of Origin (Form D) refers to the
   document issued by a competent authority certifying that a particular
   product conforms to the origin requirements under the ATIGA;
4. Certified Exporter means a producer/manufacturer duly authorized by the BOC to make Invoice Declaration of a good exported;
5. Export Coordination Division or ECD
   is the office under the BOC’s Port Operations Service which is mandated
   to, among others, coordinate and monitor export activities in all
   Collection Districts, provide technical advice on export matters, and
   coordinate with agencies that have dealings on matters pertaining to
   export;
6. Exporter means a natural or juridical person
   located in the territory of a Participating Member State where a good is
   exported from by such a person;
7. Goods shall include materials and/or products
   which can be wholly obtained or produced even if they are intended for
   later use as materials in another production process. The term “goods”
   and “products” can be used interchangeably (Paragraph (e), Article 25 of
   the ATIGA);
8. Importer means a natural or juridical person
   located in the territory of a Participating Member State where a good is
   imported into by such a person;
9. Invoice Declaration means a declaration as to
   the origin of goods exported made by a Certified Exporter on a
   commercial invoice, in accordance with Rule 12B of the Operational
   Certification Procedure (OCP) of the MOU on Second Pilot Project;
10. Materials means any matter or substances used
    or consumed in the production of goods or physically incorporated into
    another good or are subject to a process in the production of another
    good (Paragraph (g), Article 25 of the ATIGA);
11. Originating goods or materials
    means products that qualify as originating in accordance with the
    provisions of the ATIGA ROO (Paragraph (h), Article 25 of the ATIGA)
12. Participating Member State refers to the ASEAN
    Member State that has agreed to participate in the Second Pilot Project,
    which shall pertain to the Philippines, Indonesia, Lao PDR and/or other
    ASEAN Member States who may accede to the MOU on the Second Pilot
    Project;
13. Producer means a natural or juridical person
    who carries out activities as set out in Paragraph (j), Article 25 of
    the ATIGA in the territory of a Participating Member State;
14. Production means methods of obtaining goods,
    including growing, mining, harvesting, raising, breeding, extracting,
    gathering, collecting, capturing, fishing, trapping, hunting,
    manufacturing, producing, processing or assembling goods (Paragraph (j),
    Article 25 of the ATIGA);
15. PRU refers to the Preferential Rate Unit under
    the FED or its equivalent units in all ports that shall evaluate the
    authenticity and validity of the Certificate of Origin (Form D)/Invoice
    Declaration submitted by importers;
16. Rules of Origin or ROO refer
    to the rules/criteria for determining the national source of a product,
    especially for the purpose of determining eligibility for preferential
    tariff treatment pursuant to the ATIGA; and
17. Self-Certification is a system which enables a
    Certified Exporter to make out an Invoice Declaration for the export of
    goods and declare, by itself, that its products have satisfied the Rules
    of Origin (ROO) under the ATIGA by making such declaration on the
    commercial invoice.

III. GENERAL PROVISION

1. Only exporters in good standing with the Bureau of Customs shall qualify for accreditation in accordance with this Order.
2. The Bureau of Customs may authorize an exporter who makes
   shipments of products to make Invoice Declarations with regard to the
   originating status of the goods concerned.
3. An exporter seeking such authorization must apply in writing or
   electronically or must offer to the satisfaction of the Bureau of
   Customs all guarantees necessary to verify the originating status of the
   goods for which an Invoice Declaration was made out;
4. A Self-Certification Implementation & Monitoring
   Secretariat (SCIMS) under the AOCG shall be established to implement,
   supervise and manage all activities pertaining to the 2nd pilot project
   for self certification including to process and approve the
   certification procedure as certified exporters and monitoring the
   correctness of the Invoice Declarations compliance with the law, rules
   and regulations pertinent to exportation and Rules of Origin;
5. The AOCG shall coordinate with the Management Information and
   Systems Technology Group (MISTG) on the Information and Communication
   Technology (ICT) requirement of the Second Pilot Self Certification
   Project.

IV. OPERATIONAL PROVISION

A. APPLICATION FOR “CERTIFIED EXPORTERS”

1. Manufacturers/exporters must apply in writing or electronically
   addressed to the Deputy Commissioner AOCG attn: Self Certification
   Implementing & Monitoring Secretariat (SCIMS), his/her intention to
   be accredited as “certified exporter” together with the following
   documents, to wit:
   1. Latest Income tax returns
   2. URN as exporters;
   3. Business permit/s;
   4. SEC/DTI registration, where applicable;
   5. List of official/s and their positions in the company
      authorized to sign the Invoice Declaration with their respective
      specimen signatures (not to exceed three (3) persons); and
   6. An illustration of the manufacturing process (for product
      specific rule) or the accounting process (for general rule) per good to
      be exported
   7. List of products applied for authorization to make Invoice Declaration
2. The SCIMS shall compose of the following, to wit:
   

   Head	–	Deputy Commissioner, AOCG
   Members	–	Director, POS
   		Chief, ECD
   		Chief, FED &ED, POM
   		Chief, FED &ED, MICP
   		Chief, FED &ED, NAIA

3. The head of SCIMS shall forward the application to the ECD who shall evaluate the same based on the following criteria:
   1. Exporter is a legitimate manufacturer/producer, who must
      have been transacting with the Bureau of Customs for more than one (1);
   2. Exporter must have been exporting products with ASEAN member states for at least one (1) year
   3. Exporter must have responsible officer/s or person/s
      authorized to sign the Invoice Declaration must have sufficient
      knowledge, competence in ROO application, and have undergone training on
      the implementation of Self Certification System conducted by the BOC;
   4. Exporter must be willing to be subjected to regular
      monitoring and inspection to determine the correctness of its
      declaration with respect to the goods exported.

4. After evaluation, ECD shall forward its findings and
   recommendation to the SCIMS within seven (7) working days to SCIMS for
   its consideration.

5. If SCIMS finds the application to be meritorious, it shall
   grant the “Certified Exporter” status through the issuance of a written
   Authorization with the corresponding authorization number including the
   date of issuance and expiry date of the authorization within fifteen
   (15) working days from the date of receipt of application with complete
   documentary requirements by the SCIMS. If not, it shall issue a letter
   of disapproval stating the reason/s for the denial

6. A copy of the “written authorization” shall be furnished the ECD
   copy furnished Bureau of International Trade Relation (BITR),
   Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

B. OBLIGATIONS FOR GRANT OF “CERTIFIED EXPORTER” STATUS

The following are the obligations of a Certified Exporter:

1. Allow the Bureau of Customs access to records and premises for
   the purpose of monitoring the use of the authorization and of the
   verification of the correctness of the declarations made. The records
   and accounts must allow for the identification and verification of the
   originating status of goods for which an Invoice Declaration was made,
   during at least three (3) years from the date of the declaration, in
   accordance with domestic laws and regulations.
2. Undertake to make the Invoice Declaration only for goods that
   such exporter produces and for which he has all appropriate documents
   providing the originating status of the goods concerned at the time of
   the declaration.
3. Undertake to ensure that the person(s) responsible for making the Invoice Declaration know and understand the Rules of Origin.
4. Assumes full responsibility for all Invoice Declarations made out on behalf of the company, including any misuse.
5. The Certified Exporter shall submit a quarterly summary report
   of all Invoice Declaration made during the same period using the
   prescribed form and shall submit said report to the Port Operations
   Service, Attention: Export Coordination Division, within seven (7) days
   after the end of each quarter.

C. EXPORT PROCEDURES FOR CERTIFIED EXPORTERS

1. The “Certified Exporter” shall file an export declaration in
   accordance with the Implementing Rules and Regulations of P.D. 930, as
   amended and CMO 54-2010 and CMO 7-2012 on Automated Export Documentation
   System.

2. The Certified Exporter shall, in case of export of goods
   satisfying the origin criteria of the ATIGA, put the following
   declaration on the commercial invoice:

   “The exporter of the product(s) covered by this document
   (Certified Exporter Authorization Code/s …..) declares that, except
   where otherwise clearly indicated, the products (HS Codes:……) satisfy
   the Rules of Origin to be considered as ASEAN Originating Products under
   ATIGA (ASEAN country of origin:…………….) with origin criteria:……………

   ………………………………… Signature over printed Name of the Authorized Signatory”

3. The Commercial Invoice should describe the goods in sufficient
   details to enable them to identified for origin determination purposes.

4. The declaration on the invoice must be signed by hand.
5. The date indicated in the commercial invoice shall be considered as the issuance date of the Invoice Declaration.
6. If in case the space provided for in the Invoice Declaration is
   not sufficient to list out all the products, additional page/s could be
   attached, bearing the HS Codes, origin criterion and signature over
   printed name of the authorized signatory.

7. The Bureau of Customs shall monitor the proper use of the
   Authorization, including verification of the correctness of the Invoice
   Declarations made. Decisions on the frequency and depth of such action
   should be risk-based. Furthermore, the BOC will act on retrospective
   verification requests by the customs authorities of the importing
   Participating Member State.

8. In cases where the “Certified Exporter” may decide not to submit
   an invoice declaration, he may still claim tariff preference under the
   ATIGA by applying for the issuance of a CO Form D.
   

D. IMPORT PROCEDURE FOR CERTIFIED EXPORTERS

For shipments availing of the preferential rate under ATIGA from
Indonesia and Laos PDR and other participating member states the
existing customs import procedures shall still apply, only that for the
Certified Exporters of the aforementioned countries they have the option
to claim tariff preference under ATIGA by submitting an invoice
declaration in lieu of a CO Form D.

V. VALIDITY OF THE STATUS

The authorization given shall be valid until 31 December 2015, unless the MOU on the Second Pilot Project is terminated.

VI. GROUNDS FOR SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION

1. Certified Exporter no longer offers the guarantees referred to
   in Rule 12A (1) of the OCP of the MOU on the Second Pilot Project.
2. Certified Exporter no longer fulfills the conditions referred to
   in Rule 12A (2) of the OCP of the MOU on the Second Pilot Project; and
3. Certified Exporter violates this Order.

VI. PENALTIES

Commission of any of the acts mentioned in the above grounds shall constitute an offense and shall be penalized, as follows:

1. Commission of any of the above acts for the first time shall be
   penalized with a suspension for three (3) months of the Accreditation
   as Certified Exporter.
2. Commission of any of the above acts for the second time shall
   be penalized with a suspension for six (6) months of the Accreditation
   as Certified Exporter; and
3. Commission of any of the above acts for the third time shall be
   penalized with a revocation of the Accreditation as Certified Exporter.

The above penalties shall be without prejudice to the imposition
of other penalties under the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines,
as amended, and other applicable laws, rules and regulations.

VII. OTHER PROVISIONS

1. Pursuant to the verification process, Certified Exporters
   making an invoice declaration shall keep the supporting records for not
   less than three (3) years from the date of the Invoice Declaration.
2. The Bureau of Customs shall retain the authorization of the
   Certified Exporters and all other documents related to such application
   for not less than three (3) years from the date of the granting of the
   authorization.
3. Information as to the correctness of the Invoice Declaration
   shall be furnished upon request of the importing Member State by the
   competent authority of the exporting Member State
4. Any information communicated between the Participating Member
   states concerned shall be treated as confidential and shall be used
   exclusively for the validation of Invoice Declaration.

VIII. EFFECTIVITY

This Order shall take effect immediately.

(SGD) JOHN PHILLIP P. SEVILLA
Commissioner