MEAT IMPORTERS & TRADERS ASSOCIATION 91-95 Panay Avenue, Quezon City, M.M. Tel. No. (02) 8372 3944 Fax No. (02) 8372 3253 March 7, 2022 Atty Edward James A Dy Buco Deputy Commissioner, AOCG Bureau of Customs Manila Dear Dep. Comm. Dy Buco, This is a follow up to our letter dated October 15, 2020 regarding our request to have frozen meat exempted from ETRACC, to which we have yet to receive the Bureau’s reply. We attach copies of our exchange of communication for your ready reference. To recap, we view the imposition of ETRACC on frozen meat to be superfluous. You cite in your letter of October 1, 2020 that there is a need to track frozen meat containers to the 2 nd border where, presumably, the Bureau of Customs can conduct 100 % inspection. The Dept of Agriculture already has regulations in place since 2000 that address this issue: 1. The port quarantine officer of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) seals each container prior to transport to the designated cold storage. 2. B efore the container leaves the port, all importers are required to electronically file a request for inspection with the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), for which the location of the cold storage must be disclosed, and such cold storage must also be accredited with the NMIS. 3. Only the NMIS inspector is allowed to break the seal. 4. Only after the cargo is fully unloaded will the NMIS inspector issue the meat inspection certificate that will allow the goods to be used or sold. Therefore, should a container of meat go “missing” the NMIS will no doubt be alerted. And any contraband goods inside the container will be discovered by the NMIS inspector as the stocks are unloaded. Under the Food Safety Act, the Dept of Agriculture and the Dept of Health have primary jurisdiction and responsibility with regard to food safety of imported foodstuff. We further note that since December 2021, all frozen meat shipments are now subject to 100 pct inspection by the Bureau at the 2 nd border. The justification provided is the purported smuggling of agricultural produce, presumably raised by local producers during a Senate Committee hearing held on December 14, 2021. To be more precise, it is alleged that 02.03 goods are being declared as lower duty 02.06 commodities. It is unfortunate that importers were not invited to attend the senate hearing and given equal opportunity to weigh in on the topic. As far as we are aware no regulatory impact assessment or risk assessment has been conducted to substantiate the allegations of the local producers and justify 100 pct inspection. This is contrary to the Ease of Doing Business Act. In any case, such allegations are nothing new. Imported meat has been subjected to similar inspections at least twice before but no evidence of rampant smuggling has ever been uncovered. There was even a Presidential Anti Smuggling Group (PASG) created under EO 624 in May of 2007 composed of 9 government agencies including the BoC, but only to be abolished in 2010 under criticism of redundancy. Such activities only succeeded in increasing the cost to legitimate importers by way of demurrage charges, and overtime expenses; all at a time when food inflation brought about by covid, animal disease (Avian Influenza and African Swine Fever), changing weather patterns, and the war in Ukraine (resulting in high feed costs amongst others) is already being felt worldwide. Our members report they are incurring an additional Peso 4,000 to 7,000 per container as a result of having to wait for customs inspectors to arrive before their containers are opened. In total, we estimate that our members have needlessly incurred more than Peso 1.0 Million in just 3 months since December. We do not need another reason to add to the cost of basic commodities. The added cost will ultimately just be passed on to consumers and goes against the government’s stated objective of keeping food inflation in check. No less than the President recognized that certain “ administrative constraints, procedures and fees unduly add to the costs of importation and limit supply, which in turn, push up the prices of agricultural commodities ”. He thus signed AO13 on Sept 21, 2018 precisely to steamline administrative procedures and remove non-tariff barriers, thereby reducing any price spikes to agricultural commodities. Without sound justification based on hard evidence, and not just hearsay from local producers keen to protect their business interests, we firmly believe 100 pct inspection of frozen meat at the 2 nd border is redundant and qualifies as a non-tariff trade barrier that goes against the spirit and intent of AO 13 s2021. We unequivocally state that our association is with our government and local industry in condemning smuggling activities. Legitimate importers also stand to lose against those who do not pay the correct tax and gain an undue advantage. We have in fact written the BoC in the past to encourage stricter oversight of bonded cold storage facilities where we believe smuggled goods are channeled. What we are against, is the lack of consideration for the far greater number of importers who do not engage in smuggling. It is sad to see that our government’s past and present actions stem from a presumption of the importer’s guilt, rather than innocence. All importers have already been labelled as smugglers even without hard evidence. This is unconstitutional. We respectfully ask the Bureau of Customs to immediately rescind its Memorandum Orders that subject imported meat to ETRACC and inspection at the 2 nd border. Sincerely yours, MEAT IMPORTERS & TRADERS ASSOCIATION Sherwin Choi, President c.c. H.E. President Rodrigo Duterte, pcc@malacanang.gov.ph Sec William Dar, DA, osec@da.gov.ph Sec Carlos Dominguez III, DOF, secfin@dof.gov.ph Sec Ramon Lopez, DTI Secretary@dti.gov.ph Sec Karl Kendrick Chua, NEDA, OSEC@neda.gov.ph Usec Ernesto V. Perez CPA, ARTA, oddg.operations@arta.gov.ph