EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 439, September 15, 1997

MODIFYING THE NOMENCLATURE AND THE RATES OF IMPORT DUTY ON CERTAIN IMPORTED ARTICLES UNDER SECTION 104 OF THE TARIFF AND CUSTOMS CODE OF 1978 (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE 1464), AS AMENDED,

WHEREAS, Section 104, and 401 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978 (Presidential Decree No. 1464), as amended, empower 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, FIDEL V. RAMOS, President of the Republic 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” hereof, as classified under Section 104 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, as amended, shall have the Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) rates of import duty in accordance with the schedule indicated opposite each article as specified In columns 4-7 of said Annex.

Section 2. The nomenclature and the rates of import duty on tariff headings not enumerated and those listed but represented by the symbol “x x x” shall remain in force and effect.

Section 3. Upon the effectivity of this Executive Order, the articles specifically listed in the aforesaid Annex “A” which are entered or withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption shall be levied the rates of duty therein prescribed.

Section 4. All Presidential issuances, administrative rules and regulations, or parts thereof, which are inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby revoked or modified accordingly.

Section 5. This Executive Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days following its complete publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines

DONE in the City of Manila, this 15th day of September in the year of Our, Lord Nineteen Hundred and Ninety-Seven.

(Sgd.) FIDEL V. RAMOS

President of the Philippines

By the President:

(Sgd.) RUBEN D. TORRES

Executive Secretary