Question & AnswerQ&A (EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 418)
The State emphasizes maintaining a balance between motorization and air quality management, protecting the public against unreasonable risks from consumer products, and mitigating impacts from used motor vehicle trading on air quality and road safety.
Trucks, buses, and special purpose vehicles are exempted from the specified import duties under this Executive Order.
In addition to the regular import duty, an additional specific duty of PhP 500,000.00 is imposed on the articles listed in Annex "A" of the Executive Order, classified under Section 104.
The specific duty amount will be indexed by the Secretary of Finance every two years if there is more than a 10% change in the exchange rate of the Philippine peso against the US dollar from the effectivity date or last revision date. If there is more than a 20% change within the two-year period, the adjustment will reflect the full rate of depreciation or appreciation.
Used motor vehicles are defined as (a) those sold, registered, and operated on roads/highways of any foreign country or state, or (b) imported vehicles with mileage of more than 200 kilometers regardless of the year model.
The new duties took effect thirty (30) days following the complete publication of the Executive Order in two newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.
All inconsistent presidential issuances, administrative rules, and regulations or their parts are revoked or modified accordingly.
No, motor vehicles were not covered by Schedule LXXV (a Philippine Schedule of Concessions) and therefore did not have tariff bindings, which justified the unilateral imposition of duties under WTO rules.