Executive Order No. 84 March 15, 2002

MODIFYING THE NOMENCLATURE AND THE MOST-FAVOURED-NATION (MFN) RATES OF IMPORT DUTY ON VARIOUS AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS UNDER SECTION 104 OF THE TARIFF AND CUSTOMS CODE OF 1978 (PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 1464, AS AMENDED)

WHEREAS, the government has continued to implement a tariff rationalization program aimed at promoting global competitiveness and providing for a level playing field for the agriculture sector;

WHEREAS, the government needs to extend the existing MFN tariff rates on some agricultural products to help the agriculture sector to be efficient and globally competitive;

WHEREAS, Section 401 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, as amended, empowers the President to increase, reduce or remove existing protective rates of import duty, as well as to modify the tariff nomenclature;

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" hereof, as classified under Section 104 of the Tariff and Customs Code of 1978, as amended, shall be subject to the MFN rates of import duty in accordance with the schedule indicated opposite each article.

Section 2. The nomenclature and the MFN 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the effectivity of this Executive Order, the articles specifically listed in the aforesaid "Annex" which are entered or withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption shall be levied the rates of duty as indicated therein.

Section 4. All other 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 thirty (30) 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 March, in the year of Our Lord, two thousand and two.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO

By the President:

(Sgd.) ALBERTO G. ROMULO

Executive Secretary