THE Bureau of Customs (BoC) and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) have signed a data-sharing agreement to facilitate the tracking of goods moving in and out of economic zones.
“This landmark agreement is set to revolutionize the efficiency and security of trade and economic zone operations in the Philippines,” the BoC said on Wednesday.
The agreement gives PEZA access to the BoC’s Electronic Tracking of Containerized Cargo (E-TRACC) System.
First launched in 2020, the E-TRACC system allows the real-time monitoring of inland movements of containerized goods to make their transport more secure. The system can also detect diversion and tampering.
The partnership will allow for the “real-time monitoring of containerized goods and individuals within and outside economic zones.”
“This partnership promises to enhance efficiency, transparency, and security in cargo transportation to and from these zones. Key provisions of the agreement focus on data privacy, security, storage, and retention of confidential information,” the BoC added.
In a separate statement PEZA said the agreement also promotes compliance with Executive Order No. 18, which establishes green lanes to accelerate and streamline the processing of clearances for strategic investments.
“We firmly believe that sharing secure data with PEZA will enable us to coordinate our efforts and drive collective improvements toward seamless trade facilitation. This will pave the way for improved day-to-day operations and will further buttress our trade facilitation performance,” Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Y. Rubio said in a statement.
“We subscribe to the BoC’s objectives of trade facilitation as our way of enhancing the competitiveness of the Philippines for trade and investments. To do this, we believe that digitalization is the key, increased adoption of automation, so that we can enhance our ease of doing business and facilitate even more the movement of cargoes of our locators,” PEZA Director General Tereso O. Panga added. — Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
