Philippine Tariff Commission

An n u a l Re p o r t 2009
an FTA from taking advantage of different external tariff rates imposed by
individual member states.
The Commission was fully occupied in the area of ROO for the year 2009.
It actively participated in the drafting of the country’s positions, proposals
and counter-proposals regarding issues in the ASEAN-CEPT conversion to the
product specific rules based on tariff shift, and ROO agreements with different
dialogue partners.
An active member of the Philippine delegation, the Commission continued
to participate in the negotiating sessions, attended inter-agency meetings and
provided comments and recommendations on ROO of the various FTAs such
as the ASEAN Australia and New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA), the ASEAN Japan
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP) and the ASEAN-India FTA,
including the meetings of the ASEAN Task Force on ROO.
Besides the above engagements, the Commission conducted a series of
ROO seminars and workshops with the private sector (e.g., Philexport, industry
associations, customs brokers) and concerned government agencies (e.g.,
Bureau of Customs, Board of Investments, BETP).
Below are some of the major accomplishments of the Commission in the
field of foreign trade promotion:
I. Multilateral Trading Arrangements
‣¾
‣¾
‣¾
Reviewed and verified the comments/changes made by US on the
Philippines’ HS 2002 Revised Schedule of Commitments submitted to
the WTO;
Reviewed and verified the Philippines’ HS 2002 transposition file
posted in the Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database File Transfer
Facility (FTF) vis-à-vis from the original submission of the Philippines’
Schedule LXXV;
Provided comments on the Trade Policy Review (TPR) of European
Community (EC), Japan and New Zealand;
‣¾ Participated in the Hands-on-Training for the Preparation of the
Agriculture Schedule and Developments in the Negotiating Group on
Market Access;
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