US grants duty-free access to RP products

SIX Philippine products, including the country’s century-old export, abaca hemp, will enjoy duty-free access to the American market under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the DTI said the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will award GSP benefits to the following goods: exposure meters; insulated beverage bag with outer surface textiles, interior only flexible plastic container storing/dispensing beverage thru flexible tubing; lead-acid storage batteries of a kind used as the primary source of electrical power for electrically powered vehicles; nickel-iron storage batteries, of a kind used as the primary source of electrical power for electrically powered vehicles; twine, cordage, rope and cables of abaca or other (leaf) fibers; and woven or partly assembled materials of rattan for mats, matting and screens.

The DTI said these six products were among the 112 export goods from 16 developing beneficiary-countries that were issued waivers for one year of the specified annual trade ceilings, as determined by the 2008 Annual Review of the GSP Program that ended on June 30.

The DTI said the Annual Review of the GSP Program studies petitions to limit or withdraw a country’s qualification for the privileged entry based on eligibility criteria such as the extent of intellectual property rights protection; extent of compliance with internationally recognized worker rights; level of economic development; ability to provide equitable and reasonable access to US goods and reduce trade distorting investment practices and policies; and efforts to combat terrorism.

The DTI said these six goods were given GSP perks on account of below the minimum or “de minimis” waivers that use a lower applicable trade value ceiling granted to products imported into the US in smaller quantities.

The DTI said each of the six products has registered imports below the minimum level of $19 million last year, as all six contributed a total of only $24 million to the Philippines’ exports to the US last year.

The DTI said other Philippine export goods that were eligible for GSP privileges are basketwork; beet or cane sugar; lamps and lighting fittings; lasers; liquid crystal devices; measuring instruments; optical appliances; optical fibers; parts of tractors; pipe or tube fittings; pneumatic tires; and radio and television parts.

The DTI also said the US has expanded the GSP by adding two agricultural produce—frozen spinach and frozen uncooked potatoes—to the list of goods eligible for duty-free export from all beneficiary countries.

The DTI said the GSP Program facilitated the duty-free entry to the US last year of about $918-million worth of Philippine goods, which account for 11.2 percent of the total $8.2-billion shipments to the US that year.

“Philippine products qualifying for the GSP into the US market gain access, grow its business, and hopefully compete for more business held by other developing country suppliers,” said Trade Senior Undersecretary Thomas Aquino.

The US GSP Program allowed the duty-free entry last year of $31.7-billion worth of imports of about 5,000 types of products from 131 nations. Total US imports amounted to $2.16 trillion in 2008. –Ben Arnold O. De Vera, Reporter, Manila Times