Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

Section 1. Sections one and two of Republic Act Numbered Six hundred one, as amended by Republic Acts Numbered Eleven hundred seventy-five and Eleven hundred ninety-seven, are further amended to read as follows:

"Section 1. Except as herein otherwise provided, there shall be assessed, collected, and paid a special excise tax of seventeen per centum on the value in Philippine peso of foreign exchange sold and/or authorized to be sold by the Central Bank of the Philippines, or any of its agents until June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and fifty-six.

"Sec. 2. The tax provided for in section one of this Act shall not be collected on foreign exchange used for the payment of the cost, transportation and/or other charges incident to importation into the Philippines of canned milk, canned beef, cattle, canned fish, cocoa beans, malt, stabilizer and flavors, vitamin concentrate; supplies and equipment purchased directly by the Government or any of its instrumentalities for its own exclusive use; machinery, equipment, accessories, and spare parts, for the use of industries, miners, mining enterprises, planters and farmers; and fertilizers when imported by planters or farmers directly or through their cooperatives; article or containers used, including materials for the manufacture of tin containers used by the importer himself in the manufacture or preparation of local products for consignment or export abroad; textbooks, reference books, and supplementary readers approved by the Board on Textbooks and/or established public or private educational institutions; paper imported by publishers for their exclusive use in the publication of books, pamphlets, magazines and newspapers; carbides, explosives and dynamite for mining purposes; drugs and medicines, and medical, and hospital supplies listed in the appendix of this Act; payment in respect of reinsurance; payment in respect of marine and aviation insurance; spare parts to be used in the repair of vessels of Philippine registry or airplanes and such other parts thereof as may be certified by the Hulls and Boilers Division of the Bureau of Customs or the Civil Aeronautics Administration, respectively, as essential to the maintenance of vessels or airplanes; payment of purchase price of vessels or ships of any kind or nature intended for Philippine registry, ninety per cent of the ownership of which belongs exclusively to Filipinos, or charter fees of airplanes and vessels of Philippine register; remittances by airlines of American registry operating between the Philippines and the United States of income in the Philippines to their head offices in the United States: Provided, That such airlines have been granted a permit to operate under the Air Transport Agreement between the United States and the Philippines prior to the enactment of Republic Act Numbered Six hundred one; remittances for payment of principal and interests of foreign loan contracted under obligation of the Philippine Government or any of its instrumentalities; remittances for Payment of living expenses of students pursuing courses of studies abroad not exceeding the equivalent of two hundred and fifty dollars per month including payment of tuition, books, medical expenses and other school fees; and collar allocations for one trip a year and not exceeding three hundred dollars for each Filipino pilgrim of any religion traveling abroad under permit of the Government; payment of premiums by veterans on life insurance policies under the Government of the United States; and payment of premiums and other amounts due by policy holders on life insurance policies issued before December nine, nineteen hundred and forty-nine, and payment of machinery and/or raw materials to be used by new and necessary industries as determined in accordance with Republic Act Numbered Thirty-five as amended by Republic Act Numbered Nine hundred and one."

SEC. 2. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 1955.

Approved, June 18, 1955.