The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) expressed hope the Tariff Commission (TC) would consider points it raised in its comments on the body’s staff report that practically dismisses a petition for the imposition of safeguard duties on passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (LCVs).
The TC staff report – which concluded imports were not recent, sharp, significant enough to warrant an import surge – will have to be reviewed by the three commissioners who will decide on the case.
A DTI source said the commissioners may disagree on the staff report and revise some of the findings and conclusions.
The DTI said TC’s appreciation of data and evidence differs with its own particularly on what constitutes “like and competitive” products and how seating capacities and prices factor in the purchasing decisions of consumers.
This was in reaction to a conclusion of the report that only 35 tariff lines should be covered by the safeguards, thus not capturing imported vehicle models that compete with those directly substitutable, locally-assembled models.
To illustrate, the DTI official said there are vehicles in the low -end imported sport utility vehicle (SUV) category which are within the price range of locally-manufactured high-end minivans. To the vehicle buyer, they can choose between one or the other.
In the same context, an SUV and a minivan may have the same seating capacity and may be within the same price range but if the import has a safeguard duty, the buyer may opt to choose a locally-produced model.
The DTI cited the case of the surge in salwa in the past few years of double -cab pick-ups, which took up market share from passenger cars. Conversely, if that pick-up is slapped with safeguard duty, a potential buyer will think twice before buying.
Similar to what petitioner Philippine Metalworkers Association raised, DTI believes 2020 sales data should not have been included in the TC analysis being an abnormal year due to the pandemic.
Passenger cars are now subject a provisional duty of P70,000 per unit and LCVs, P110,000 each. – Irma Isip
