III.A.5A: Operational Provisions in the Processing of Certificate of Origin (CO) for Canned Tuna exports to Europe, Covered by the Tariff Quota System

In line with the implementation of the European Commission under Council Regulation No.975/2003 which has awarded the Philippine government a MFN based tariff quota of 9,000 MT for canned tuna products for the European Union (EU) at an in quota rate of 12% ad valorem effective 01 September 2003, which was reduced from the previous tariff rate of 24%, a system has been put in place to facilitate and manage processing of CO for canned tuna covered within the quota allocation arrangement with the EU. The lower tariff rate of 12% will be effective for 5 years.

Accordingly to properly monitor the utilization of alloted quota, the processing of COs for canned tuna shall be centralized in Manila, and shall have the following procedure, to wit:

1. Exporter fills out CO form and submits the same with copy of Export Declaration (ED), Bill of Lading (BL) and Commercial Invoice to the Canned Tuna Monitoring Unit, Bureau of Export Trade Promotion, Department of Trade and Industry (CTMU, BETP, DTI).

2. CTMU, BETP processes CO for bar coding signs and submits the same to the export coordination Division (ECD), OCOM.

3. ECD processes & approves CO on the basis of the following:

a. Checks CTMU, BETP bar coding & signature, and other pertinent documents such as the ED, BL and Commercial Invoice.

b. Verifies on whether or not the Tuna Canners Association of the Philippines (TCAP) member concerned has submitted pertinent documents relative to pre-exportation verification on the export product.

c. Returns processed CO to BETP personnel.

This Order shall take effect immediately and shall last until revoked.

Adopted: 05 Nov. 2004

(SGD.) GEORGE M. JEREOS
Commissioner