The local auto industry’s car import safeguard saga appears to be coming to a close.
According to a recent report by the Manila Bulletin, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez has already signed an order halting the imposition of safeguards on imported motor vehicles.
This development comes a little over two weeks after the Philippine Tariff Commission determined in an investigation that no surge in ‘completely built up’ (CBU) passengers cars and light commercial vehicles occurred from 2014 to 2020 and recommended an end to the safeguard measure’s implementation.
“Since it has been established that CBU passenger cars and light commercial vehicles were not imported in increased quantities (whether absolute or relative to domestic production) during the POI [period of investigation], the Commission hereby terminates its investigation and recommends that no definitive general safeguard measure be imposed on importations of the CBU passenger cars and CBU light commercial vehicles subject of this investigation,” a summary of the Philippine Tariff Commission’s investigation reads.
The order is expected to be published this week, after which it will be sent to the Department of Finance (DOF) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) with an order to stop imposing the safeguard duties—a process which the report says could take one to two weeks.
Prior to this, carmakers were being forced to collect an additional P70,000 (or P110,000 for light commercial vehicles) cash bond from customers to comply with the DTI’s safeguard measures. No doubt some of them are celebrating this development.
Do you think this is the right move? Let us know in the comments.
