CAO

July 21, 2026

Duties, Taxes & Fees

The Bureau of Customs (BOC) and the Philippine Chamber of Customs Brokers, Inc. (PCCBI) have agreed to review and update Customs Administrative Order (CAO) 01-2001, the 25-year-old regulation that sets the official service fees licensed customs brokers may charge based on a shipment's cash value.

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Why This Order Needs Updating

CAO 01-2001 has been in place for a quarter of a century, and trade volumes, digital systems, and customs procedures have changed considerably since it was written. The current fee structure does not reflect the complexity or scale of modern brokerage work, which now often includes digital documentation, compliance monitoring, and coordination across multiple government agencies as part of the customs clearance process.

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How the Review Will Proceed

Rather than a one-time revision, BOC and PCCBI have committed to a permanent system of regular meetings to keep service rates aligned with current conditions going forward. The stated goal is to protect both local importers, who rely on fair and predictable brokerage costs, and licensed brokers, whose fee structure should reasonably reflect the work involved.

  • A joint, ongoing review process rather than a single fixed update.
  • Fee structures expected to better reflect current trade volumes and digital workflows.
  • Aimed at balancing importer costs with fair broker compensation.

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What This Means for Importers

For businesses that rely on the role of a customs broker to manage import compliance, updated fee structures may eventually mean adjusted service costs, though the review process is still in its early stages. What matters most for now is that this signals continued formal collaboration between BOC and the brokerage industry, which tends to produce more workable, better-understood rules than unilateral changes.

Importers working with a broker should expect updates on this review as CAO 01-2001 moves through the revision process, and should factor potential fee adjustments into longer-term cost planning.