The ATA Carnet system is an international scheme that allows duty and tax free temporary importation of goods for one year through the use of an ATA Carnet document. The document is normally issued to cover goods for use in trade fairs, shows, exhibitions, professional equipment, commercial samples and personal effects. It is expected to be implemented three months after the Philippines deposits its instrument of accession.

With ATA in place, the Bureau of Customs (BOC) would no longer require posting of surety and tax exempt documentation for the temporary admission of goods.

Guidelines for origin documentation under AHKFTA

On 12 November 2021, the BOC circulated a guideline with regards to the acceptance of Certificates of Origin (CO) under the ASEAN-Hong Kong, China Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA). The CO under the AHKFTA is a Form AHK.

1. For shipments that involve the Form AHK with ‘third-party invoicing’ (TPI) arrangement, the following on the Form AHK must be complied with:

• The exporter and the company issuing the invoice are in the same territory

Box no. 7	Name and territory of the invoice issuing the final invoice for importation
Box no. 10	Number and date of the final invoice
Box no. 13	“Third-party invoicing” box must not be ticked

• The TPI involves more than three countries

Box no. 7	– Name and territory of the company issuing the third-party invoice – Name and territory of the company issuing the final invoice; or if known, the name and territory of all companies issuing the invoice
Box no. 10	– Number and date of the invoice issued by the manufacturer; or the name of exporters including the number and date of the final invoice for importation, as possible – In absence of the above information, the number and date of invoice from any last territory that is known to the issuing authority may be reflected. – In case the final invoice number and date is not stated in the Form HK, further information may be requested by the BOC
Box no. 13	“Third party invoicing” box should be ticked.

Any discrepancy between the information in the Form AHK and the final invoice should not immediately result in a rejection of the claim for duty preferences. Instead, the customs authorities may request for additional information from the importer to verify the import transaction.

2. Replacement of Form AHK – If the Form AHK is amended or replaced, the following must be observed:

• Amended Form AHK must have a new reference number and issuance date;
• Box 13 should be marked “Issued Retroactively”, if a Form AHK is amended more than three working days after the shipment date; and
• The reference number and the date of issue of the original CO may be indicated in Box 7 of the amended CO.

3. Issued retroactively – To guide the counting of the number of “working days” for the marking of Box 13, the following are to be provided:

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
26 Sep	27 Sep	28 Sep	29 Sep	30 Sep	01 Oct	02 Oct
			Declared shipment date (Day 0)	Working day (Day 1)	Public holiday in HK
03 Oct	04 Oct	05 Oct	06 Oct	07 Oct	08 Oct	09 Oct
	Working day (Day 2)	Working day (Day 3)	Working day (Day 4) Begin to mark “Issued Retroactively”

For more information please find the Trade Intelligence Asia Pacific published by PwC here.

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