The House Ways and Means committee held an executive meeting last Monday to finalize the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA), following at least 20 hearings since last year.

“We have approved it. We are going to report it out to the plenary next week, hopefully. It is going to depend on the Committee on Rules, but this is a priority measure so we hope that it can be scheduled soonest,” Marikina City Rep. Romero S. Quimbo (2nd district), who heads the committee, said in an interview yesterday.

Mr. Quimbo had earlier set a November target for approval of the CMTA on third and final reading at the House to give enough time for the Senate to hold its own hearings and approve the measure before Congress adjourns on Dec. 19 for the Christmas holiday.

“It has to make it before the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) integration [in 2015],” Mr. Quimbo said. “Definitely, that is the objective.”

Both chambers of Congress agreed last month to prioritize passage of the measure after Malacañang identified the bill among its legislative priorities.

The measure provides for full electronic processing of shipment documents; streamlining of export and import procedures; simplified processes for seizure and disposition of illegal goods, and steeper penalties.

Henry J. Schumacher, executive vice-president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said via text yesterday: “A reformed BoC with the human hand replaced by e-processing will create the desired playing field.” -- Melissa Luz T. Lopez

Source: Business World Online