DTI asked to slap safeguard duty on glass from Vietnam

Asahi Glass Philippines (AGP) is asking the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to include Vietnam in the list of countries subject to a still unspecified safeguard tariff on imported glass.

Following the imposition of a provisional safeguard on imported figured glass, framed and unframed glass mirrors, clear float glass and tinted float glass in September last year ASG president Renato Ermita said there was an immediate 22-percent reduction in imported glass from China, Malaysia, Thailand and South Africa.

However, Ermita disclosed, after a couple of months, the local glass industry noted a shift in importation to Vietnam which was not initially included in the first request for safeguard protection.

The industry is hoping that since the Tariff Commission has not yet ruled or handed down the final tariff on imported glass, the DTI could still include Vietnam in the final order.

The DTI had decided last September 2003 to grant a provisional safeguard against the specified imported glass.

The provisional measure is in the form of a cash bond amounting to P1.535 per metric ton to be imposed for a period not exceeding 200 days from the date of issuance by the Bureau of Customs.

The CMO, Ermita clarified, was issued only mid-October so the 200 days provisional period would end sometime in May.

Most of the imported figures glass to be affected by the provisional safeguard measure comes from China and South Africa.

Also to be affected are figured glass imports from two ASEAN countries, namely Thailand and Malaysia.

Since figured glass is covered by the ASEAN-Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme, notification and consultation will be required under Article 12 of the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement and Section 18 of Republic Act 8800 and its implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) must be complied with.