President Benigno Aquino III has issued an executive order modifying tariff rates on certain imported products, particularly goods that support green initiatives, as part of the country’s commitment to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).
Executive Order (EO) No. 185 series of 2015, signed by Aquino on June 26, prescribes that articles listed in the Annex of EO 185, as classified under Section 104 of the Tariff and Customs Code of the Philippines (TCCP), as amended, fall under the Most Favored Nations (MFN) rates of duty.
An MFN status is one in which a country with this privilege is given the lowest possible tariff assessment by another country when the latter imports its products.
“The rates of import duty on tariff headings and subheadings, which are not enumerated, and those which are listed but represented by the symbol ‘xxx’ shall remain in force and effect,” the EO stated.
Once the EO takes effect, all articles listed in the Annex that go into or are withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption will be levied MFN rates of duty.
The products listed in Annex A include super heaters, soot removers, gas converters, and industrial or laboratory furnaces and ovens, including incinerators.
Centrifuges, including centrifugal dryers, filtering or purifying machinery and apparatus for liquid or gases, are also included in the list.
Leaders of APEC member economies previously agreed to address issues on climate change, and review the progress of negotiations under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Development Agenda in liberalizing trade in environmental goods and services.
They also committed to take concrete steps to achieve past goals to realize green growth consistent with their WTO obligations.
Under the 2012 Vladivostok Declaration, the leaders endorsed the APEC List of Environmental Goods that enumerates 54 environmental goods that directly contribute to green growth and sustainable development.
They committed to reduce applied rates to 5% or less for these environmental goods by the end of 2015, taking into account “economies’ economic circumstances, without prejudice to their position in the WTO.”
On May 19 this year, the National Economic and Development Authority Board recommended the reduction of MFN rates of duty on certain tariff lines under the APEC List of Environmental Goods by 2015.
The country’s customs code empowers the President to increase, reduce, or remove existing rates of duty, as well as modify the tariff nomenclature. – Roumina Pablo
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