THE Bureau of Customs (BOC) said it has started collecting lower tariffs on imports of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken and turkey at 5 percent on Tuesday.
The BOC on Wednesday issued Customs Memorandum Circular (CMC) 18-2021, stating that President Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) 123 s. 2021 mandating the retention of the 5-percent tariff rate on imports of chicken and turkey MDM until end-2022 was only effective starting January 26.
“With the effectivity of Executive Order No. 123 [Series of 2021] [Modifying the Rates of Import Duty on Certain Agricultural Products under Section 1611 of Republic Act No. 10863, otherwise known as the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act] on 26 January 2021, all concerned are informed that the articles specifically listed in Annex A thereof, as classified in compliance with Section 11 of RA No. 10863 shall be subject to the Most Favoured Nation [MFN] rates and import duty in accordance with the schedule indicate opposite each article until 31 December 2022,” read the memorandum circular signed by Customs Commissioner Rey Leonardo B. Guerrero.
The effectivity date of Duterte’s EO came a week after the Official Gazette released its copy online on January 18. The EO was signed by Duterte on January 15.
Prior to the effectivity date of the EO, the BOC has been collecting a 40-percent tariff on imports of chicken and turkey MDM since January 1 after Duterte’s EO 82 expired on December 31, 2020.
Duterte issued EO 82 last June 2019 to reduce the tariff for MDM “a key component for hotdogs and canned luncheon meat” to 5 percent to ease inflationary pressures.
Moreover, Guerrero also said the BOC’s Electronic to Mobile (E2M) System shall be required to reflect the modified nomenclature and tariff rate in line with the EO.
Sought to clarify BOC’s basis for stating that the effectivity date of the President’s EO was January 26, Customs Assistant Commissioner and spokesman Vincent Philip Maronilla said it “most likely” came from the certificate of publication it received from the Official Gazette.
“Kasi nakalagay doon [na effectivity] after publication e [sa Official Gazette],” Maronilla told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview. “Yung certificate of publication na nakuha ‘ata namin that date lang.”
As stated under EO 123 s. 2021, the order “shall take effect immediately after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation, and shall be applicable until 31 December 2022.”
The Customs spokesman also said so far they have yet to receive any petition for refund for MDM shipments that were slapped a tariff of 40 percent.
While Maronilla said it is up to the BOC’s legal service department if it will grant the request for a refund by importers, he said the BOC may disallow the refund as the EO did not include a retroactive provision on the application of 5-percent tariff on MDM imports.
To recall, the BOC also did not grant the meat processing industry’s request to refund about P100 million to P200 million in tariff differential in MDM shipments that arrived in 2019 because Duterte’s EO 82 also did not have a retroactive provision.
Until now, the case has yet to be resolved. The President is allowed to increase, reduce or remove existing rates of import duty upon the recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority if Congress is not in session. Congress was on recess until January 17.
According to EO 23 issued in 2017, concessionary rates on certain agricultural products should go back to 2012 levels once the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice is removed and converted into ordinary customs duties.
The rice trade liberalization law, which removed the QR on rice, took effect on March 5, 2019.