Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal said that consumer are now more assured that imported substandard products will have a harder time coming into the country.
Cristobal said that the DTI is implementing guidelines that would step up the procedures to monitor and control the presence of substandard imported products in the market.
The new set of rules specify that an importer of a product that is covered in the Bureau of Product Standards (BPS) mandatory product certification would be allowed to release its shipment from the Bureau of Customs (BOC) only upon the submission of an Oath of Undertaking to the BOC and BPS.
The Oath of Undertaking indicates that the importer will comply with the requirements of the BPS Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) Certification Scheme prior to distribution and selling of its product in the market.
When an importer applies and submits its requirements, the BPS or the DTI Provincial Office randomly acquires a sample from the product shipment to perform tests based on a Philippine National Standard (PNS).
The BPS issues the ICC to an importer with product that successfully passes the tests and authorizes the importer to use the ICC mark on its products.