WHEREAS, at the 4th ASEAN Informal Summit held in Singapore in November 2000, the ASEAN Heads of Government/State agreed on the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) in order to narrow the development gap between the older and newer members of ASEAN and to enhance the new members integration with the rest of the ASEAN;

WHEREAS, to implement the decision of the ASEAN Heads of Government/State, the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM), at their meeting in Siemrap, Cambodia on 3-5 May 2001, decided to implement the ASEAN GSP Scheme (now AISP) on a bilateral basis;

WHEREAS, the preference is a unilateral offer made by preference-giving countries (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) to the preference-receiving countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam);

WHEREAS, on 28 June 2005, the NEDA Board approved the proposed elimination of the tariff duty on products listed in "Annex A"^* imported from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam under the AISP.

WHEREAS, Section 402 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, as amended, empowers the President, upon the recommendation of the National Economic and Development Authority, to increase, reduce or remove existing protective rates of import duty as well as to modify the form of duty.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:

SECTION 1. The articles specifically listed in "Annex A" (Articles Granted Concession under the ASEAN Integration System of Preference (AISP) Package of the Philippines) hereof, as classified under Section 104 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, as amended, shall be subject to the AISP rate of duty indicated in Column 4 of "Annex A" when imported from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam (preference-receiving countries) indicated in Column 5 of "Annex A".

SECTION 2. In the event that any subsequent changes are made in the basic (MFN) Philippine rate of duty on any of the articles listed in "Annex A" to a rate lower than the rate prescribed in Column 4 of "Annex A", such article shall automatically be accorded the corresponding reduced duty.

SECTION 3. From the date of effectivity of this Order, all articles listed in "Annex A" entered into or withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption shall be imposed the rates of duty therein prescribed subject to qualification under the Rules of Origin of forty percent (40%) single country content (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) as provided for in the Agreement on the CEPT Scheme for the AFTA signed on 28 January 1992.

SECTION 4. All presidential issuances, administrative rules and regulations, or parts thereof, which are contrary or inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 5. This Executive Order shall take effect immediately following its complete publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Adopted: 22 July 2005

(SGD.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

By the President:

(SGD.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary

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^* Text Available at Office of the National Administrative Register, U.P. Law Complex, Diliman, Quezon City.