TRADE-RELATED ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT JANUARY 2014

T R A D E This newsletter is made possible by the generous support of the American

People through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents of this newsletter are the sole responsibility of the TRADE Project and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the

United States Government.

Newly appointed Bureau of

Customs commissioner John Philip

Sevilla met with TRADE personnel,

led by COP Cielito Habito and

DCOP Gareth Davies, to receive an

overview of the project and to

discuss TRADE’s technical assistance

to the Bureau. The 16 January

meeting at the BOC offices was attended as well by Management and

Informations System and Technical Group (MISTG) Deputy

Commissioner Primo Aguas and USAID representatives Kevin Sharp, John

Avila and Ryan Evangelista.

Commissioner Sevilla enumerated three priority areas in which he hopes

TRADE can provide assistance as part of the project’s overall workplan

for trade facilitation. These are related to 1) the improving the monitoring

system of customs bonded warehouses; 2) the automation of tariffs

standardization and the alignment of the national tariff nomenclature with

the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN); and 3) data mining

New customs

chief outlines

priority areas

Left: Customs Commissioner John Sevilla in a file photo

from Manila Bulletin. Above: Meeting with the new

commissioner to discuss the BOC’s priority areas were

TRADE’s Cecilia V. Reyes and Dr. Ciel Habito, along with

USAID COR Kevin Sharp. Also in photo is Deputy

Commissioner Primo Aguas (second from right).

and analytics to help improve operational

efficiency in the trade clearance process.

TRADE’s objectives include supporting

customs modernization, particularly the

setting up of a transparent and well-

coordinated customs clearance system. It is

designed to, among others, provide assistance

to the BOC in adopting key and internationally

accepted trade facilitation measures.

A roundtable discussion (RTD) on

the Philippine National Single

Window (NSW) Program was held

on 20 January at the DTI

International Building in Makati.

The Philippines NSW program is

designed to improve the efficiency of

customs processes by allowing the

single submission and accelerated

processing of applications for

licenses, permits, and other

authorizations required by various

agencies for a trade transaction.

Under the TRADE Work Plan, the

Project aims to improve trade

facilitation by providing technical

assistance towards implementation

of the NSW and its links to the

ASEAN Single Window.

The RTD was organized by the

National Competitiveness Council

headed by co-chairman Guillermo

Improved NSW implementation pushed Luz, and supported by the TRADE

Project led by DCOP Gareth Davies and

Trade Facilitation Leader Ms. Cecilia V.

Reyes. Taking part in the dialog were

representatives from trade-regulatory

government agencies (TRGAs) such as

the Bureau of Investments, Bureau of

Export Trade Promotion, Food and Drug

Administration, Bureau of Plant Industry

and Bureau of Quarantine. Mr. Ramon

Vicente Kabigting, Co-Champion of the

NCC-NSW Working group, chaired the

forum that discussed the Council’s NSW

Working Group Work Plan for 2014.

Dir. Angelica Sarmiento, from the Bureau

of Customs, reported on the updates on

NSW Phases 1 and 2 status. The RTD

was capped with a presentation of follow

-through advocacies and activities, as well

as a dialogue strategy for the BOC and

the NCC NSW Working Group.

TRADE’s DCOP Gareth

Davies (extreme left)

speaks with representatives

of TRGAs at the NCC’s

National Single Window

roundtable discussion.

Upon the request of USAID, TRADE

briefed Ronnie Ricketts, Chairman of the

Optical Media Board (OMB), and Allan

Gepty, Deputy Director General of the

Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in early

January, in preparation for their trips to

the US. The two officials were scheduled

to leave for Washington upon the

invitation of the US Trade Representative

(USTR), and are expected to discuss with

Above: IPO’s Alan Gepty

( p h o t o f r o m

iprreview.com). Right:

Mariz Ricketts and OBM

c h a i r m a n R o n n i e

Ricketts with TRADE’s

Rose Catindoy.

TRADE PROJECT STAFF 3F HERCO Center, 114 Benavidez St., Legazpi Village Makati City 1229

Chief of Party: Dr. Cielito F. Habito • Deputy Chief of Party: Gareth J. Davies • Senior Adviser for Trade Policy: Dr. Ramon

Clarete • Trade Policy Specialist: Myrene Bedaño • Component Lead for Trade Facilitation: Cecilia V. Reyes • Adviser for

Trade Facilitation: Edmund C. Guamen • Component Lead for Competition Policy: Gigo Alampay • Monitoring and

Evaluation Specialist: Miguel V. Guioguio • Communications Specialist: Kimi Tuvera • Research Assistant: Abigail Dumalus •

Director of Operations: Mitos Q. Aldave • Project Accountant: Imelda L. Mallari • Administrative Coordinator: Rose Catindoy

2 TRADE / JANUARY 2014

TRADE briefs

IPO, OBM

officials

officials their efforts to promote and protect intellectual property rights in

the Philippines.

The Philippines was retained in the USTR’s Special 301 Report watchlist of

countries with IP violations in May 2013, “subject to further review” if the

country made progress in key areas. The Report, a result of annual

reviews on the state of intellectual property rights protection and

enforcement among US trading partners, lauded efforts of IPR officials and

legislators in the Philippines, particularly in

passing legislation to amend the IP Code and

modernize the country’s copyright and IPR

enforcement regimes consistent with the

WIPO Internet Treaties. However, it also

named other challenges, such as piracy over

the Internet, that still need to be addressed.

TRADE has received the

endorsement of the National

Economic and Development

Authority (NEDA) for the

Project’s Year 2 Work Plan, a

move that would further

intensify cooperation and

collaboration between TRADE

and that vital government

agency counterpart. The

endorsement came following a

meeting held 3 January between

key TRADE personnel led by

COP Dr. Cielito Habito, who

NEDA endorses TRADE

discussed with NEDA Deputy Director Manny Esguerra,

Director Brenda Mendoza and Assistant Director Rose

Edillon the Project’s goal of maximizing the country’s benefits

from participation in various FTAs.

The endorsement came in the form of an e-mail sent by

Deputy Director Esquerra to Dr. Habito, in which the former

said that they found TRADE’s Year 2 Work Plan “generally

supportive of the strategic thrusts of the Philippine

NEDA’s Deputy Director-

General Emmanuel F.

Esguerra (file photo from the

UP School of Economics

website.

Government. We concur with the Work Plan and are pleased

to endorse it.” Esguerra said he looked forward to working

with TRADE in carrying out the Project’s activities.

Among TRADE’s tasks is helping the Philippines meet its

commitments under the AEC Blueprint and various WTO

agreements. To this end, the Project will assist in conducting

analyses of Philippine trade patterns in order to improve the

capability of NEDA and other CAEC agencies to explain the

benefits and opportunities from AEC membership. TRADE

will assist in strengthening mechanisms and processes for

trade policy formulation, and will undertake an assessment of

training needs — as well as design and deliver training

programs based on this assessment — for NEDA and other

key agencies involved in trade policy and negotiations. To

improve coordination, consistency and coherence in trade

policy formulation, TRADE will help analyse existing

institutions and recommend appropriate remedial measures.

The Project will provide support for strengthening the

country’s pool of trade policy experts by linking trade policy-

making and negotiating agencies with leaders in the academe

for potential recruits.