How Should We Move Forward in Customs Brokerage and Trade Facilitation?

To maximize the benefits from the ASEAN economic integration, the Philippines must have seamless, efficient, and transparent trading procedures. There are now efforts to modernize customs administration, which will partly affect the customs brokerage profession in the country. The proposed Customs and Tariff Modernization Act is facing resistance from organized customs brokers as the proposed law entails some changes that could adversely affect their role in customs administration.This Policy Note examines the rarely explored customs brokerage activity in the Philippines and its role in facilitating trade given the ongoing push to modernize customs administration. It gives a brief analysis of how the customs brokerage profession is being regulated and synthesizes insights on opposing views on the importance of customs brokers in trade facilitation. The analysis is important and timely given the purported threat to the profession of the current effort to modernize customs administration in the country.