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An online portal promoting the use of free trade agreements and generalized system of preferences in the Philippines was officially launched on December 2
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The portal includes information on harmonized system codes and tariff rates of importing countries
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It enables exporters to check which countries they can export their products to and the best FTA to use in case several are applicable for their products
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The project aims to enhance international competitiveness of Philippine micro, small, and medium enterprises and increase utilization of existing Philippine FTAs and preferential trade arrangements
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Aside from the FTA information portal, DTI aims to launch the origin management system by June next year
An online portal promoting the use of free trade agreements (FTAs) and generalized system of preferences (GSP) in the Philippines was officially launched on December 2.
The FTA portal (philippineftas.dti.gov.ph) is a user-friendly platform that contains information on FTAs and GSPs that the Philippines has entered into or is a part of. It includes information on HS (harmonized system) codes and tariff rates of importing countries while also enabling exporters to check which countries they can export their products to and the best FTA to use in case several are applicable for their products.
The portal and the origin management system (OMS) are major components of a project between the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) that commenced following the signing of the Record of Discussions on November 29, 2023.
The project aims to enhance international competitiveness of Philippine micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), increase utilization of existing Philippine FTAs and preferential trade arrangements, and reduce the time and costs of Philippine manufacturers and traders to comply with rules of origin (ROO) requirements of FTAs and GSPs.
Korea Trade Network (KTNET), the Korean government’s designated trade automation business service provider, will implement the project with Philippine-based value-added service provider InterCommerce Network Services, Inc. as its partner. The DTI-Export Marketing Bureau (EMB) will take the lead in implementation on the Philippines’ side.
“We want to make understanding FTAs easy and make exporting using FTAs easier for Philippine businesses,” EMB director Bianca Pearl Sykimte said in a speech during the launch.
“The project’s two-fold approach of improving access to FTA related information and simplifying ROO compliance will help empower more MSMEs to participate internationally and reap the benefits of these agreements,” she added.
Citing a 2022 study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, Sykimte said FTA utilization among Philippine exporters has been low, noting that firms are likely to disregard benefits from using FTAs due to complicated procedures in availing of the preferential rates.
In contrast, utilization of FTAs in imports has been expanding, with Philippine imports considerably utilizing FTAs, except for imports from Japan, South Korea, and Singapore.
Asked if DTI has a target increase in the utilization of FTAs following the launch of the information portal, Sykimte said they are still discussing this internally as the data will come from each importing country.
Earlier, KTNET president and chief executive officer Young-hwan Cha in an interview with PortCalls said utilization of FTAs increased from around 60% to 82% last year when they implemented their FTA origin determination service called Korea FTA Plus in South Korea.
READ: InterCommerce, Korean partner developing system for FTA promotion
According to the presentation of KTNET general manager Kang Sung Young, the FTA portal has four main menus, providing information on FTAs/GSPs and how to utilize them, as well as information on FTAs/GSPs-related activities and DTI’s trade agenda. It includes the following tools:
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HS code advisor – provides the most suitable HS code for a product based on its keyword and the target country
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Tariff information – provides applicable tariff rates
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Preferential traffic advisor – which includes information on product specific rules, and
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Origin determination simulator, which provides a simulation to determine the ROO to be used
DTI for next year has scheduled several information session and hands-on tutorial on the utilization of the portal.
Aside from the FTA portal, DTI aims to launch the OMS by June next year.
The OMS will enable exporters to assess whether their export product qualifies under the relevant rules of origin requirements of FTAs/GSPs by inputting necessary information.
Additionally, an artificial intelligence-enabled HS classification tool will assist exporters in determining the appropriate HS code/s for their product/s.
Moreover, through the OMS, exporters can submit applications to the Bureau of Customs for the product evaluation report (PER) on manufactured export product, if the product is qualified under a specific FTA origin criterion.
Sykimte said this will hopefully facilitate the approval of the PER, which is a document that contains the results of the pre-evaluation of export products applying for certificate of origin.
The OMS will also be capable of integrating with the own enterprise resurge planning systems of businesses so that they can just upload their data instead of separately encoding in the OMS. – Roumina Pablo
