EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 491 December 13, 1977

CERTIFYING THAT THE PRODUCTION OF PHTHALIC ANHYDRIDE AS A PREFERRED PIONEER INDUSTRY, SHALL BE ENTITLED TO POST-OPERATIVE TARIFF PROTECTION

WHEREAS, The Board of Investments has registered Resins, Inc., for the manufacture of phthalic anhydride as a preferred pioneer industry;

WHEREAS, studies conducted by said Board and the Department of Industry indicate that due to increased cost of raw materials, this project to be viable, needs tariff protection in the interim, against competing imported items, which importations constitute a drain in our foreign exchange resources;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the power vested in me by the Constitution, upon the recommendation of the Board of Investments pursuant to the provisions of Section 8 (c) of Republic Act No. 5186, otherwise known as the Investment Incentives Act, do hereby certify that the production in the Philippines of phthalic anhydride as a preferred pioneer industry shall be entitled to a post-operative tariff protection in the form of increased customs duty on phthalic anhydride, subject to the condition that at any time during its effectivity, the post-operative tariff rate may be modified in accordance with Section Four Hundred One of the Tariff and Customs Code, whenever there is a finding that the existing conditions in the industry warrant such modifications.

Sec. 1. The articles specifically listed hereunder as classified under Section 104 of Republic Act Number Nineteen Thirty-Seven as amended by Presidential Decree Number Thirty Four shall pay the following rates of import duty:

Tariff Heading No.	Description of Articles	Rate of Duty
29.15	Polycarboxylic acids and their anhydrides, halides, peroxides and peracids, and their halogenated sulphonated, nitrated or nitrosated derivatives:
	A. Articles not included in subheading B and C hereof including dimethyl terephthlate and there-phthalic acid	ad val. 10%
	B. Phthalate plasticisers; estess of phthalic anhydrides	ad val. 50%
	C. Phthalic Anhydrides	ad val. 30%

Sec. 2. Upon the expiration of thirty (30) days from the issuance of this Order, all the above described articles entered or withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption shall be subject to the rates of imported duty herein above-prescribed.

Done in the City of Manila, this 13th day of December, in the year of Our Lord, nineteen hundred and seventy-seven.