Malacañang recently released Executive Order No. 448 which modified the import duty rates on certain articles as part of the AISP package of the Philippines.
The products which were included in the AISP include plants and parts of plants (including seeds and fruits), of a kind used primarily in perfumery, in pharmacy or for insecticidal, fungicidal or similar purposes, fresh or dried, whether or not cut, crushed or powdered; vegetable products not elsewhere specified or included; wood sawn or chipped lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or end-jointed, of a thickness exceeding six mm and sheets for veneering (including those obtained by slicing laminated wood), for plywood or for other similar laminated wood and other wood, sawn lengthwise, sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded, spliced or end-jointed of a thickness not exceeding six mm.
Two year ago preferential tariff rates were imposed on imports from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar under the ASEAN GSP/AISP.
The AISP is a scheme that grants preferential tariff rates for goods coming from ASEAN countries plus the new members – Cambodia, Laos, Myannmar and Vietnam.
Products that were first granted zero tariff include edible product of animal origins; vegetable materials for planting; brooms and bristles and waxes; salt; locust beans; chalk; coal and hydrogen.
The Philippines was initially apprehensive that the AISP may be subject to abuse especially by some importers who may only use some of the ASEAN member countries as transshipment points.
Under the rules of the AISP, tariff rates for ASEAN members would be brought down to zero by 2010 for the six original members, namely Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines.
For the new ASEAN members, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myannmar and Vietnam, they would be allowed a lag time up to 2018 before they eventually bring down their own tariff rates to zero.