﹛﹛(10) days subject to the call of the owner.
Upon failure of the owner to claim such surplus within this period, the Collector shall deposit such amount in a special trust fund which shall be used solely for the purpose of financing the compulsory acquisition of imported goods by the government as provided in Section 2317 hereof.
In all such cases the Collector shall report fully his action in the matter, together with all the particulars, to the Commissioner and to the Chairman on Audit. After one year, the unused amounts in such special trust funds, except for an amount necessary to finance forced government acquisitions before the first auction of the succeeding year, shall be turned over to the Bureau of Treasury as customs receipts."
SEC. 8. A new section to be known as Section 3514 is hereby inserted in Part, 2 Title VII of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, as amended, which shall read as follows:
"SEC. 3513. Requirement to Keep Records. - All importers are required to keep at their principal place of business, in the manner prescribed by regulations to be issued by the Commissioner of Customs and for a period three (3) years from the date of importation, all the records of their importations and/or books of accounts, business and computer systems and all customs commercial data including payment records relevant for the verification of the accuracy of the transaction value declared by the importers/customs brokers on the import entry.
All brokers are required to keep at their principal place of business, in the manner prescribed by regulations to be issued by the Commissioner of Customs and for a period of three (3) years from the date of importation copies of the above mentioned records covering transactions that they handle."
SEC. 9. A new section to be known as Section 3515 is hereby inserted in Part 2, Title VII of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines, as amended, which shall read as follows:
"SEC. 3515. Compliance Audit or Examination of Records. - The importers/customs brokers shall allow any customs officer authorized by the Bureau of Customs to enter during office hours any premises or place where the records referred to in the preceding section are kept to conduct audit examination, inspection, verification and/or investigation of those records either in relation to specific transactions or to the adequacy and integrity of the manual or electronic system or systems by which such records are created and stored. For this purpose. A duty authorized customs officer shall be full and free access to all books, records, and documents necessary or relevant for the purpose of collecting the proper duties and taxes.
In addition, the authorized customs officer may make copies of, or take extracts from any such documents. The records or documents must, as soon as practicable after copies of such have been taken, be returned to the person in charge of such documents.
A copy of any such document certified by or on behalf of the importer/broker is admissible in evidence in all courts as if it were the original.
An authorized customs officer is not entitled to enter any premises under this Section unless, before so doing, the officer produces to the person occupying or apparently in charge of the premises written evidence of the fact that he or she is an authorized officer. The person occupying or apparently in charge of the premises entered by an officer shall provide the officer with all reasonable facilities and assistance for the effective exercise of powers under this Section.
Unless otherwise provided herein or in other provisions of law, the Bureau of Customs may, in case of disobedience, invoke the aid of the proper regional trial court within whose jurisdiction the matter falls. The court may punish contumacy or refusal as contempt. In addition, the fact that the importer/broker denies the authorized customs officer full and free access to importation records during the conduct of a post-entry audit shall create a presumption of inaccuracy in the transaction value declared for their imported goods and constitute grounds for the Bureau of Customs to conduct a re-assessment of such goods.
This is without prejudice to the criminal sanctions imposed by this Code and administrative sanctions that the Bureau of Customs may impose against contumacious importers under existing laws and regulations including the authority to hold delivery or release of their imported articles."