TRADE-RELATED ASSISTANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT PROJECT JANUARY 2014

T R A D E
This newsletter is made possible by the generous support of the American
People through the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID). The contents of this newsletter are the sole responsibility of the
TRADE Project and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the
United States Government.
Newl y appoi nted Bureau of
Customs commissioner John Philip
Sevilla met with TRADE personnel,
led by COP Cielito Habito and
DCOP Gareth Davies, to receive an
overview of the project and to
discuss TRADEs technical assistance
to the Bureau. The 16 January
meeting at the BOC offices was attended as well by Management and
Informations System and Technical Group (MISTG) Deputy
Commissioner Primo Aguas and USAID representatives Kevin Sharp, John
Avila and Ryan Evangelista.

Commissioner Sevilla enumerated three priority areas in which he hopes
TRADE can provide assistance as part of the projects overall workplan
for trade facilitation. These are related to 1) the improving the monitoring
system of customs bonded warehouses; 2) the automation of tariffs
standardization and the alignment of the national tariff nomenclature with
the ASEAN Harmonized Tariff Nomenclature (AHTN); and 3) data mining
New customs
chief outlines
priority areas
Left: Customs Commissioner John Sevilla in a file photo
from Manila Bulletin. Above: Meeting with the new
commissioner to discuss the BOCs priority areas were
TRADEs Cecilia V. Reyes and Dr. Ciel Habito, along with
USAID COR Kevin Sharp. Also in photo is Deputy
Commissioner Primo Aguas (second from right).
and analytics to help improve operational
efficiency in the trade clearance process.

TRADEs objectives include supporting
customs modernization, particularly the
setting up of a transparent and well-
coordinated customs clearance system. It is
designed to, among others, provide assistance
to the BOC in adopting key and internationally
accepted trade facilitation measures.
A roundtable discussion (RTD) on
the Philippine National Single
Window (NSW) Program was held
on 20 J anuary at the DTI
International Building in Makati.

The Philippines NSW program is
designed to improve the efficiency of
customs processes by allowing the
single submission and accelerated
processing of applications for
l i censes, permi ts, and other
authorizations required by various
agencies for a trade transaction.
Under the TRADE Work Plan, the
Project aims to improve trade
facilitation by providing technical
assistance towards implementation
of the NSW and its links to the
ASEAN Single Window.

The RTD was organized by the
National Competitiveness Council
headed by co-chairman Guillermo
Improved NSW implementation pushed
Luz, and supported by the TRADE
Project led by DCOP Gareth Davies and
Trade Facilitation Leader Ms. Cecilia V.
Reyes. Taking part in the dialog were
representatives from trade-regulatory
government agencies (TRGAs) such as
the Bureau of Investments, Bureau of
Export Trade Promotion, Food and Drug
Administration, Bureau of Plant Industry
and Bureau of Quarantine. Mr. Ramon
Vicente Kabigting, Co-Champion of the
NCC-NSW Working group, chaired the
forum that discussed the Councils NSW
Working Group Work Plan for 2014.
Dir. Angelica Sarmiento, from the Bureau
of Customs, reported on the updates on
NSW Phases 1 and 2 status. The RTD
was capped with a presentation of follow
-through advocacies and activities, as well
as a dialogue strategy for the BOC and
the NCC NSW Working Group.

TRADEs DCOP Gareth
Davies (extreme left)
speaks with representatives
of TRGAs at the NCCs
National Single Window
roundtable discussion.

Upon the request of USAID, TRADE
briefed Ronnie Ricketts, Chairman of the
Optical Media Board (OMB), and Allan
Gepty, Deputy Director General of the
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) in early
January, in preparation for their trips to
the US. The two officials were scheduled
to leave for Washington upon the
invitation of the US Trade Representative
(USTR), and are expected to discuss with
Above: IPOs Alan Gepty
( p h o t o f r o m
iprreview.com). Right:
Mariz Ricketts and OBM
c h a i r ma n R o n n i e
Ricketts with TRADEs
Rose Catindoy.

TRADE PROJECT STAFF
3F HERCO Center, 114 Benavidez St., Legazpi Village Makati City 1229

Chief of Party: Dr. Cielito F. Habito Deputy Chief of Party: Gareth J. Davies Senior Adviser for Trade Policy: Dr. Ramon
Clarete Trade Policy Specialist: Myrene Bedao Component Lead for Trade Facilitation: Cecilia V. Reyes Adviser for
Trade Facilitation: Edmund C. Guamen Component Lead for Competition Policy: Gigo Alampay Monitoring and
Evaluation Specialist: Miguel V. Guioguio Communications Specialist: Kimi Tuvera Research Assistant: Abigail Dumalus
Director of Operations: Mitos Q. Aldave Project Accountant: Imelda L. Mallari Administrative Coordinator: Rose Catindoy
2 TRADE / JANUARY 2014
TRADE briefs
IPO, OBM
officials
officials their efforts to promote and protect intellectual property rights in
the Philippines.

The Philippines was retained in the USTRs Special 301 Report watchlist of
countries with IP violations in May 2013, subject to further review if the
country made progress in key areas. The Report, a result of annual
reviews on the state of intellectual property rights protection and
enforcement among US trading partners, lauded efforts of IPR officials and
legislators in the Philippines, particularly in
passing legislation to amend the IP Code and
modernize the countrys copyright and IPR
enforcement regimes consistent with the
WIPO Internet Treaties. However, it also
named other challenges, such as piracy over
the Internet, that still need to be addressed.
TRADE has received the
endorsement of the National
Economic and Development
Authority (NEDA) for the
Projects Year 2 Work Plan, a
move that would further
intensify cooperation and
collaboration between TRADE
and that vital government
agency counterpart. The
endorsement came following a
meeting held 3 January between
key TRADE personnel led by
COP Dr. Cielito Habito, who
NEDA endorses TRADE
discussed with NEDA Deputy Director Manny Esguerra,
Director Brenda Mendoza and Assistant Director Rose
Edillon the Projects goal of maximizing the countrys benefits
from participation in various FTAs.

The endorsement came in the form of an e-mail sent by
Deputy Director Esquerra to Dr. Habito, in which the former
said that they found TRADEs Year 2 Work Plan generally
supportive of the strategic thrusts of the Philippine
NEDAs Deputy Director-
General Emmanuel F.
Esguerra (file photo from the
UP School of Economics
website.
Government. We concur with the Work Plan and are pleased
to endorse it. Esguerra said he looked forward to working
with TRADE in carrying out the Projects activities.

Among TRADEs tasks is helping the Philippines meet its
commitments under the AEC Blueprint and various WTO
agreements. To this end, the Project will assist in conducting
analyses of Philippine trade patterns in order to improve the
capability of NEDA and other CAEC agencies to explain the
benefits and opportunities from AEC membership. TRADE
will assist in strengthening mechanisms and processes for
trade policy formulation, and will undertake an assessment of
training needs as well as design and deliver training
programs based on this assessment for NEDA and other
key agencies involved in trade policy and negotiations. To
improve coordination, consistency and coherence in trade
policy formulation, TRADE will help analyse existing
institutions and recommend appropriate remedial measures.
The Project will provide support for strengthening the
countrys pool of trade policy experts by linking trade policy-
making and negotiating agencies with leaders in the academe
for potential recruits.