The Laws and Regulations of the Philippine Customs Department

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Every country in the world has its government agency known as the Customs department. This governing body is responsible for enforcing and upholding the regulations and rules, to protect and collect the revenues which are related to imports, and to document and regulate the passage of goods out of and in the nation. Because the Philippines is one of the central regions in Southeast Asia, thousands of cargo planes or ships pass by the islands carrying people or products to their assigned destinations. And because of rampant smuggling of contraband or anything illegal, and the lessons learned from the September 11, 2001 tragedy in the United States, the Philippine Customs department understandably had to be strict with their laws for the safety and security of everyone.

General Requirements

Every individual and baggage must be ready for a search any time. (Customs Law, Sections 2210 and 2212). Every article, when brought from other nations into the Philippines Exports Products, will have a corresponding tax and inspection upon importation, despite being exported from the country before, except if there are regulations that are stated in the Customs Code that will say otherwise (TCCP, Section 100).

Regulated and Prohibited Articles

The illegal importation of restricted articles (examples include ivory tusk products, rags and used clothes – R.A.4653, gambling paraphernalia or outfits, misbranded or adulterated drugs or food items, immoral or obscene articles, gun replicas, explosives or firearms and their components, and synthetic drugs or narcotics like cocaine or marijuana), or items that violate R.A. 8293 or the Intellectual Property Rights Code (examples include duplicated optical disc media such as VCDs or DVDs) and regulated products (examples include controlled precursors, substances, chemicals, and transceivers) regardless of number will violate the laws of Philippine Customs and will result in penalties, fines and/or criminal prosecutions.

For Philippines Exports Products that require export or import clearances, the individual or distribution company has to make sure that the articles are given permits from the proper government agency.