The Philippines can look forward to improved access on a wide range of products to the United Kingdom (UK) under the latter’s proposed Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), seen as a more generous and less strict preferential trade scheme than the Generalized System of Preferences of the European Union.
At the launch of the DCTS in the Philippines last Wednesday, UK ambassador Laure Beaufils said this scheme is better than GSP is not based on certain international conventions but only economic criteria. Like other GSP beneficiaries, the Philippines has to meet international conventions on labor and human rights to qualify.
“It cuts tariffs. It removes conditions and simplified trading rules such as Rules of Origin and other requirements,” Beaufils said.
She said on the rules of origin, the UK has maintained regional groupings so the Philippines can accumulate with other DCTS countries in the region such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
This opens a wider source of raw materials for Philippine exporters.
Beaufils said DCTS retained previous GSP Plus offers on tariffs and removed import duties for over 150 extra new products including seasonal tariffs that would benefit Filipino agricultural products.
Beaufils said the scheme will provide the Philippines access to duty-free, quota-free trade on 92 percent of eligible goods, or over 99 percent of current Philippine exports to the UK in value.
For example, tariffs on goods such as tuna, corn starch, and durum wheat flour will all be removed and will create savings of potential millions of dollars for exporters.
“Tuna for example, will be reduced from 20 percent to zero. And this represents over 14 million pounds of average annual exports from 2020 to 2022,” Beaufils said.
According to Beaufils, the DCTS will help UK achieve its “ambitious” goal of growing further its trade with the Philippines which reached an all- time high of 2.4 billion pounds in 2022. This is an increase of 26 percent or half a million pounds from 2021 and almost double than the trade in 2010.
“ We want to continue to grow that and the DCTS offers an excellent opportunity to increase this trade even further,” she said.
DCTS will replace the current UK GSP that gives eligible countries certain trade preferences, reducing or removing tariffs on imports to the UK.
The new DCTS benefits 65 countries which collectively export 20 billion pounds in goods to the UK every year. It is designed to boost trade with developing countries that will support and build the markets of the future.
