Government urged to relax rules on used car imports

MANILA, Philippines - A foreign business chamber is asking the government to relax the rules on the importation of used vehicles, saying it is against World Trade Organization (WTO) policies to ban the sale of imported used vehicles in the country.

But in an interview, Trade Undersecretary Elmer C. Hernandez dared the foreign chamber to raise the issue before the international tribunal.

“We will stand by our legislation,” he stressed. “We are not afraid of them.”

Hernandez said he has scolded the representatives of the chamber who visited his office with regards to the newly-signed Motor Vehicle Development Plan (MVDP).

“These people do not like to invest here in the Philippines. They just want us as a market,” he said.

At the same time, Hernandez said the country being represented by the business group is singling out the Philippines despite a similar ban on used car importation in India, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia.

The new MVDP is set to be published this week as Executive Order (EO) 877-A. This supercedes EO 877 which was signed last April. The new EO was signed June 3.

Hernandez said EO877-A is basically similar to the first. “It only corrects the typographical errors in the first one.” The publication of the new MVDP has been delayed after it was discovered that the law was full of typographical errors.

Meanwhile, Hernandez said they are currently meeting with industry organizations for the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the new MVDP. The DTI has 60 days after the EO becomes effective to come up with the IRR.

He said the industry is concerned about the restructuring of the tariff because it is allegedly disadvantageous to non-ASEAN countries.

“We have already told them (auto industry) that the new MVDP talks about restricting of the tariff. It could mean an increase or decrease,” Hernandez said.

On the excise tax, Hernandez cleared it is up to Congress to revise the tax scheme. However, he said they will make a draft bill that will be submitted to the House of Representatives.