THE Bureau of Customs(BoC) has formally launched the operations portal for the electronic exchange of the Asean Customs Declaration Document (ACDD).

Customs Commissioner Yogi Filemon Ruiz said that through the ACDD Management Portal, the Philippines can now electronically exchange the customs declaration document with other Asean states, broadening the Philippines' economic integration and maximizing the potential of intra-Asean trade,

The launch of the digital tool is expected to improve bureaucratic efficiency, strengthen market competition, and reduce barriers to entry and limits to entrepreneurship, he said in his opening remarks during the ceremonial launching of the portal on December 6.

This will also ensure compliance with international agreements while also helping efforts to eliminate agricultural smuggling, continued Ruiz.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, chairman of the National Single Window Steering Committee, said in his welcome message that the ACDD exchange will quicken the digitalization of government processes and improve the competitiveness of the Philippine business environment.

The portal is the platform for the exchange of ACDD messages between the Philippines' Asean Single Window (ASW) gateway and the ASW gateways of its Asean neighbors.

Last October 1, the BoC released Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) 26-2022, which provides the guidelines and procedures for the use of the ACDD Portal by BoC authorized personnel and exporters.

The ACDD aims to inform the customs administration of the importing country about the incoming shipment from the exporting country with the view to facilitate customs clearance and the grant of preferential tariff rate.

Under the CMO, the exporter shall register through the ACDD portal. The online registration form will be linked to the BoC's profile data, and the exporter's account will be verified through the Client Profile Registration System.

Registration will include verifying the applicant exporter's identity, creating the exporter's account, and authorizing the BOC to extract the export declaration single administrative document data from the E2M System and exchange ACDD messages with Asean member states.

Once an ACDD account has been created, the exporter can view, track status, print and generate reports for all the outbound ACDD messages sent under its account.

The BoC's Management Information System Technology Group will be responsible for programming the BoC database server for extraction of data and for system maintenance and user account creation. The Risk Management Office will handle the monitoring of all ACDD messages, while the Export Coordinating Division is tasked to monitor all outbound ACDD messages.