The Philippines’ tariff commitments for imported goods under RCEP
In the RCEP Agreement, the Philippines’ tariff commitments are specified in Chapter 2 – Trade in Goods and Annex I – Tariff Schedule of the Philippines for RCEP members. Specifically:
- Chapter 2 – Trade in Goods: This chapter sets out the key principles governing trade in goods within the RCEP region, including the most important commitments on import tariffs (such as tariff reduction/elimination schedules and the national treatment obligation) as well as commitments related to non-tariff measures, including internal taxes and charges, import and export restrictions, and import licensing procedures.
- Annex I – Tariff commitments of the Philippines for RCEP members: This annex contains five separate tariff reduction schedules for individual countries or country groups within RCEP, including one common tariff schedule and specific tariff schedules for Australia and New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China.
In addition to the tariff schedules for individual partners or partner groups, Annex I of the Philippines’ RCEP commitments also includes a sub-annex specifying a list of certain product groups that are subject to special preferential tariff commitments and must comply with additional rules of origin beyond the general rules.
This sub-annex lists 41 tariff lines that are subject to differentiated tariff treatment and require compliance with supplementary rules of origin, together with the implementation schedule for applying these additional rules.
Principles for determining preferential tariff rates
When RCEP-originating goods are imported into the Philippines, the applicable preferential tariff rate for a specific shipment is determined as follows:
(i) For goods listed in the Sub-Annex of the Philippines’ Annex I
Depending on whether the goods meet the additional rules of origin (ROO) requirements, the applicable preferential tariff rate for imported goods will be determined based on:
- The preferential tariff schedule that the Philippines applies to the exporting RCEP member; or
- The preferential tariff schedule that the Philippines applies to the RCEP member contributing the largest share of originating materials used in the production of the goods.
In both cases above, the exporter must provide sufficient documentation demonstrating that the goods fully comply with the specific rules of origin requirements in order to qualify for the corresponding preferential tariff treatment.
(ii) For goods not listed in the Sub-Annex of the Philippines’ Annex I
The preferential tariff rate will be determined according to the preferential tariff schedule that the Philippines applies to the exporting RCEP member, based on the general rules of origin under RCEP.
For both cases (i) and (ii) above, if the Philippine importer does not possess sufficient supporting documentation to claim preferential tariff treatment under the applicable provisions, the importer may still request the application of RCEP preferential tariffs for originating goods under one of the following rates:
- The highest tariff rate among those applied by the Philippines to the RCEP exporting members that contributed originating materials used in the production of the goods (the Philippine importer must provide evidence of these originating material contributions); or
- The highest preferential tariff rate that the Philippines grants for that product to any RCEP member country.
Source: Center for WTO and International Trade - VCCI
The Philippines’ tariff commitment schedule under the RCEP is attached below:
Chapter 2 RCEP - Trade in Goods
Tariff commitment schedule for ASEAN (English) (Excel)
Tariff commitment schedule for Australia and New Zealand (English) (Excel)
Tariff commitment schedule for Korean (English) (Excel)
