Getting Started · Regulatory Framework
The path splits into layers. Everything in the foundation applies to both roles; the exporter-of-record layer makes you a trader; the production layer is only for when you grow your own supply.
01 / FOUNDATION (BOTH ROLES)
Register the business through DTI (sole proprietorship) or SEC (corporation); get your Mayor's / Business Permit from your LGU (Taguig); then register with the BIR for your Certificate of Registration (Form 2303), TIN, and authority to issue invoices and keep books. That trio is what every later step asks you to attach.
02 / EXPORTER OF RECORD (BOTH ROLES)
Before lodging any export declaration you must register in the Bureau of Customs Client Profile Registration System (CPRS) — mandatory, now on a 3-year validity, yielding your Customs Client Number. Register with PHILEXPORT (also your route to Certificates of Origin), then license as an exporter of plant products with BPI-NPQSD and pull a Phytosanitary Certificate per shipment. If you trade mango, source from a BPI-accredited VHT facility — you use one, you don't need to own it.
03 / MIDDLEMAN PATH (NOW)
As a trader you don't own a farm or hold GAP certification — that's the grower's burden. You complete the foundation plus CPRS plus the BPI exporter license, and source from existing growers or consolidators. Two sub-models: be the exporter of record yourself (more paperwork, real margin and control) or act as a buying / commission agent for an already-licensed exporter (lighter, but thinner margin). The first is what makes you a genuine trader.
04 / SUPPLIER PATH (LATER)
Keep the entire export-of-record chain and add the production layer: farm registration via the RSBSA, PhilGAP certification (or GLOBALG.A.P., which Gulf and European buyers increasingly require), and accredited packhouse and VHT facilities. You're just internalizing supply you previously bought.
05 / WHAT YOU REPORT
To the BIR: regular VAT or percentage tax and income tax — note direct export sales are generally VAT zero-rated, so keep clean documentation. To the BOC: an export declaration per shipment, and keep CPRS active (3-year clock). To the BPI: a phytosanitary certificate per shipment. Maintain books and BIR-registered invoices throughout.
Sequence: DTI/SEC → Mayor's Permit → BIR → CPRS → PHILEXPORT → BPI-NPQSD → first phytosanitary cert.
Only chase the first phytosanitary certificate against a real shipment. Have a Philippine trade lawyer or PHILEXPORT advisor review contracts and letters of credit before you sign.