GSP perks up for review

DUTY-FREE PRIVILEGES granted the Philippines are at stake as the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) has set a hearing on a complaint filed by an advocacy group.

The agency, in a notice on its Web site, set a March 28 public hearing in Washington, DC for “ongoing GSP (Generalized System of Preferences) country practice reviews regarding worker rights and/or child labor” in Bangladesh, Georgia, Niger, the Philippines, and Uzbekistan.

The hearing, which will also tackle the protection of intellectual property rights in Russia and Uzbekistan, forms part of an annual GSP review. The USTR has also set an April 18 deadline for submission of post-hearing briefs.

The complaint against the Philippines was filed in 2007 by the US-based International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF). It claimed that the government had “taken significant steps and engaged policies” that denied workers the right of freedom of association. The ILRF accused the government of extrajudicial killings, abduction and harassment of labor leaders.

In January last year, Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz led a delegation to Washington to present the government’s side. Ms. Baldoz then said the government was committed to incorporating labor rights in military and police training and improving strike monitoring guidelines.

“We continue to submit progress reports and we look forward to a favorable decision,” Ms. Baldoz said in a text message yesterday.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal, meanwhile, said: “We still need to check the status of the case and get updates from the various agencies involved. There will need to be some discussion on who will go to Washington, DC.”

“This is important because at stake is the privilege to use the GSP,” he added.

The current GSP program took effect on Nov. 5, 2011 and will end this July 31.

The trade assistance program provides duty-free treatment of select goods from beneficiary developing countries. It currently covers 4,975 tariff lines, worth $18.5 billion, from 129 economies. For the Philippines, these include banana, sugar cane, edible oils, wood products, cotton fabrics, rattan products, footwear materials, ceramics and baskets, estimated to be worth $1.1 billion.

Asked on the impending expiry of the current program, Philippine Exporters’ Confederation, Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. stressed the need for perks.

“If the GSP is gone, we will lose to our neighbors who have similar products and continue to have preferential privileges,” he said. — E. N. J. David, Businessworld
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