REVISED RULES AND REGULATIONS TO GOVERN CONDUCT OF INVESTIGATION BY THE TARIFF COMMISSION UNDER SECTION 301 OF THE TARIFF AND CUSTOMS CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES, AS AMENDED BY REPU…

Pursuant to Section 301 of the Tariff and Customs Code, as amended
by RA 8752, the following revised rules and regulations are hereby
promulgated for the guidance of all concerned:

SECTION 1.       Commencement of Investigation . — Upon
receipt of the report of preliminary findings of dumping including the
records of the case from the Secretary of Trade and Industry or
Secretary of Agriculture (the “Secretary”), the Tariff Commission (the
Commission”) shall conduct a formal investigation to determine the
following:

1.         If the domestic product is identical or alike in all
respects to the allegedly dumped product, or in the absence of the
former, another product which, although not alike in all respects, has
characteristics closely resembling those of the allegedly dumped
products.

2.         If the allegedly dumped product is being imported
into, or sold in the Philippines at a price less than its normal value
and the difference, if any, between the export price and the normal
value;

3.         The presence and extent of material injury or the
threat thereof to the domestic industry, or the material retardation of
the establishment of a domestic industry producing the like product;

4.         The existence of a causal relationship between the
allegedly dumped product and the material injury or threat of material
injury to the affected domestic industry, or the material retardation of
the establishment of a domestic industry producing the like product;

5.         The anti-dumping duty to be imposed; and

6.         The duration of the imposition of the anti-dumping duty.

SECTION 2.       Nature of Investigation . — The
investigation of the Commission is fact-finding and administrative in
nature wherein the quantum of proof necessary is positive evidence,
i.e., direct evidence which is verified. Except by analogy or in
suppletory character and whenever practicable and convenient, the
investigation precludes the adoption of the technical rules of procedure
and admissibility of evidence used in regular court proceedings under
the Rules of Court. The formal investigation shall be conducted in a
summary manner. No dilatory tactics or unnecessary or unjustified delays
shall be allowed.

SECTION 3.       Notice of Formal Investigation . —
Within three (3) working days from receipt of the report of the
preliminary findings of dumping including records of the case from the
Secretary, the Commission shall give public notice of the formal
investigation and a concise summary of the anti-dumping petition through
its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation and shall
notify in writing all parties on records as identified from the report
of preliminary findings of the Secretary that the case is under formal
investigation and require them to appear at a Preliminary Conference to
be set by the Commission within seven (7) days from commencement of the
formal investigation. Concerned government agencies shall also be
notified and invited to attend the preliminary conference.

SECTION 4.       Preliminary Conference . — At the
Preliminary Conference the following issues shall be discussed:
schedule(s) and procedures of the Public Consultation, amicable
settlement consistent with the domestic anti-dumping law and the World
Trade Organization (WTO) procedure, i.e. price undertaking; limitation
of number of witnesses, availability of non-confidential information,
mode of service and any other relevant matters necessary for the
expeditious and/or orderly conduct of the Public Consultation.

As a rule, parties who did not submit answers to the required
questionnaires at the preliminary stage before the Bureau of Import
Services (BIS), has no legal personality to appear at the hearings nor
participate in the formal investigation to be conducted by the Tariff
Commission.

However, for valid reasons, a party may file a Motion for
Inclusion as a proper/official party with the Commission, the approval
of which is subject to the discretion of the Presiding Officer who may
also require such party to submit relevant data and information that can
be subjected to verification as an indispensable requirement for
inclusion of a party in the proceeding before the Commission.

Answers to the questionnaires of the Secretary shall form part of
the records of the case and parties adopting the report of the
preliminary findings by the Secretary or portion thereof shall be
considered by the Commission as part of the evidence of the parties
adopting them. Without the required submission of the party/parties, the
Commission will base its findings on the best available information.
The Commission, may require at its discretion, the parties to submit
additional information necessary for the thorough investigation and
evaluation of the case.

Following the Preliminary Conference, the Commission shall issue
an order covering matters taken up. Parties who failed to attend,
without justifiable cause, are deemed to have waived their right to
question the agreements of the parties who attended the Preliminary
Conference.

SECTION 5.       Initial Memoranda/Position Paper . —
Within fifteen (15) days after Preliminary Conference the parties shall
submit to the Commission their respective initial memoranda/position
papers, affidavits of witnesses, all documentary evidence and
records/information in support thereof and serve copies to the opposing
parties subject to the provisions of Section 13 on Modes of Service.

SECTION 6.       Price Undertaking . — At any stage of
the formal investigation, price undertaking consistent with the domestic
anti-dumping law and WTO formalities shall be entertained, provided
that such price undertaking shall not be prejudicial to public interest.
Whenever practicable, the Presiding Officer shall take the initiative
to exhaust all available means to effect a fair and reasonable
settlement of the case. The parties will be given all the opportunities
to present their proposals and/or counter-proposals. The price
undertaking agreed upon shall be reduced into writing duly signed by the
parties and/or their counsels and shall be subject to approval of the
Secretary upon recommendation of the Commission.

SECTION 7.       Methods of Obtaining Information . — The
Commission may, in addition to the pertinent records and/or documents
forwarded by the Secretary and the information and/or submissions by the
parties, request information, views, and recommendations from other
sources and any government offices, such as: the Department of Finance
and its Bureau of Customs, Department of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, the Department of Trade and Industry and its Bureau of Import
Services and Bureau of International Trade Relations, the Bangko
Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Board of
Investments, National Statistics Office, Securities and Exchange
Commission, outport price/value surveyor i.e. SGS or any other pertinent
agency, or instrumentality concerned with the subject matter of the
investigation.

The Commission shall require any interested party to allow the
Commission access to its records, etc., or otherwise provide necessary
information to enable the Commission to acquire sufficient data and
information to support its findings.

The Commission may also send correspondence to other interested
parties, domestic and foreign, conduct an ocular inspection, examine
and/or verify books of accounts/records and financial statements, and
hold conferences and consultations with the producers, traders,
representatives of labor, consumers, and other sectors concerned.

SECTION 8.       Verification/Ocular Inspection. — Parties who are
in support for or in opposition to the application shall allow access
to their books of account, records, etc., for verification and allow the
Commission to conduct ocular inspection of their counterpart article
and plant facilities.

The fact-finding investigation which includes verification and
ocular inspection of the records, protested article and plant facilities
of the parties and other matters relevant to the investigation may be
conducted by the Commission without the presence of the other party. The
Commission will immediately start to conduct verification/ocular
inspection upon its receipt of the preliminary findings of dumping from
the Secretary.

SECTION 9.       Staff Report. — Within fifty (50) days
from the receipt of the preliminary findings of dumping including
records of the case from the Secretary, the Commission shall prepare and
issue a non-confidential version of the staff report. The staff report
shall cover amongst other findings on product comparability, normal
value, export price, volume of dumped imports, alleged injury to the
domestic industry, and any other relevant data and information duly
verified, documentary submissions made by the parties before the public
consultations plus the evaluation of the results of the
verification/ocular inspection conducted by the Commission.

SECTION 10.    Comments on the Staff Report. — Within
five (5) days from receipt, parties are given one opportunity to comment
on the staff report particularly on the aspects of product
comparability and price difference as these matters are excluded as
matters for discussion in the Public Consultation.

SECTION 11.    Public Consultation/Consultation in Camera or Executive Sessions
. — The Commission, after due notification, shall conduct continuous
Public Consultation to give all interested parties who submitted
themselves to the jurisdiction of the Commission the opportunity to be
heard, and to present evidence. Public Consultation once commenced shall
continue daily with morning and afternoon sessions if necessary, for
five (5) days or unless earlier terminated by the agreement of the
parties. Five (5) days before the Consultation, the parties are required
to submit to the Commission a list of issues they wanted explored in
the Public Consultation other than the issues on product and price
difference which will be excluded in the coverage of the matters for
discussion in the Public Consultation. A party who does not submit a
list of issues maybe deemed to have no controversial/contestable matter
to raise and hence, will be given less priority in the order of parties
to ask clarificatory questions during the Consultation. Where, in any
proceeding, the Commission directs a consultation/session or a portion
thereof to be held in camera, it shall be attended only by:

a.         party who is to present confidential information or his duly authorized representative;

b.         officers and employees of the Commission who have been directed to attend;

c.         counsel of the other party, subject to an undertaking under oath not to disclose confidential information; and

d.         any other persons that the Commission has authorized to attend.

SECTION 12.    Confidentiality of Information . — All
information filed and submitted to the Commission shall be treated as
non-confidential unless the person providing the information clearly
marks at the top right portion of the document that is confidential.

Where a party who provides information to the Commission requests
that such information or portion thereof be kept confidential, he shall
file with the Commission, in addition to the documents marked as
“confidential,” a non-confidential summary or version of the
confidential information. The non-confidential summary or version of the
submission may be made available, upon request, to parties on record
and/or their counsels. A document containing confidential information
shall be served only to the Commission.

Not all requests for confidentiality of documents and/or
information shall be granted; except, however, those documents and/or
information, which in the judgment of the Commission, are by itself
confidential in nature. In case of disagreement between the opposing
parties on whether the documents and/or information is confidential or
not, the Commission’s ruling thereon, after due consideration, shall be
final.

SECTION 13.    Disclosure of Confidential Information. —
Prior to or at the commencement of the Public Consultation, the
Commission may, upon request, make available for examination and
reproduction, to each party or the party’s counsel all relevant
information in its custody that were not considered confidential. Where
the Commission, however, decides not to allow access to these
information, the opposing counsel or party shall not be given copy or
examine any of these information or portion thereof except the
non-confidential summary or version provided in the preceding paragraph.

SECTION 14.    Public Notices . — Written notice of the
assumption of formal investigation and schedule of Public Consultation
by the Commission shall be posted on the Bulletin Board of the
Commission and shall be published in two (2) newspapers of general
circulation in the Philippines at the expense of the protestant.

It shall contain the name of the protestant, nature of the
protest, trade/commodity classification and/or description of the
article involved, HS heading number and rate of duty, and the time, date
and place of the hearing including a concise summary of the petition.
Copies of such notice shall be furnished the protestant(s),
protestee(s), trade and commercial organizations, and government
agencies or entities concerned. The Commission may use personal service,
fax, telegram, electronic-mail and ordinary mail in serving parties of
its notices, pleadings, decisions, orders and resolutions.

A public notice shall be given of the conclusion/final determination whether affirmative or negative.

SECTION 15.    Mode of Service. — Only personal or
special courier service of pleadings, (i.e. memoranda, motions,
manifestations, etc.) and notices between the parties and from the
parties to the Commission in Metro Manila shall be allowed.

Parties, if they agree, may make service by fax or electronic mail
(e-mail) in which case the date of the transmission shall be deemed to
be the date of service. In case voluminous pleadings or documents and/or
numerous parties, the Commission, upon proper motion, may waive the
requirement of service, provided a copy together with its annexes is
filed with the Commission and is made available for examination and
reproduction and the notice of such filing and availability is duly
served on the parties by the party filing it.

SECTION 16.    Procedure of Public Consultation. — All
interested parties may appear at the Public Consultation and present,
under oath, further evidence relevant and material to the subject matter
of the investigation. The order of the Consultation shall be:

a.         Clarificatory questions to be propounded by the Protestee

b.         Protestant may answer the clarificatory questions of the Protestee.

c.         Clarificatory questions to be propounded by the Protestant to the Protestee; and

d.         Protestee may answer the clarificatory questions of the Protestant.

As a rule, the Presiding Officer shall propound clarificatory
questions. Questions of the parties shall be referred to the Presiding
Officer. However, for the interest of expediency and for the purpose of
drawing out direct response to the clarificatory questions by a party,
the presiding officer may allow the parties to propound their questions
directly to the opposing parties.

The process of clarificatory questioning shall not be unlimited.
Irrelevant, repetitious, misleading, speculative or personal questions
shall not be allowed. The presiding officer may control the protracted
questioning for the purpose of conserving the time of the Commission and
of protecting the party from prolonged and needless examination.
Unreasonably lengthy questioning on matters, e.g., testing the
credibility of the witness, bias, relation, and the like, shall be
discouraged.

A party while answering question shall not be interrupted but may
be asked clarificatory questions by the presiding officer. After a party
has given his testimony, he may be asked by the Presiding Officer
and/or opposing party after being recognized by the Presiding Officer.
No observer may participate in the proceedings unless recognized by the
Presiding Officer and after informing the latter of his interest in the
proceedings and his willingness to answer questions. Refusal to answer
questions will disqualify him/her from further participation in the
proceedings.

Pending investigation and evaluation of-the case, the parties are
enjoined from discussing with the public the merits of the case.

At the first day of the Public Consultation, all the principal
parties, counsels, affiants, deponents and other interested parties are
required to appear before the Commission.

SECTION 17.    Motu Proprio Termination of Investigation .
— The Commission shall motu proprio terminate its investigation if the
provisionally estimated margin of dumping is less than two percent (2%)
of export price or the volume of dumped imports is negligible. The
volume of dumped imports from a particular country is considered
negligible if it accounts for less than three percent (3%) of the
average monthly imports of like articles for the immediately preceding
three (3) months, unless, countries which individually account for less
than 3% of the average monthly imports of like articles in the
Philippines collectively account for more than seven percent (7%) of the
total average months imports of that articles for the immediately
preceding 3 months. Public notice shall be given of the motu proprio
termination of the investigation.

SECTION 18.    Principal Memoranda/Comments on the Principal Memoranda
. — Within ten (10) days after the termination of Public Consultation,
parties shall submit their respective Principal Memoranda Comments on
the Principal Memoranda shall be submitted not later than five (5) days
from receipt of Principal Memoranda. Parties submitting the Principal
Memoranda shall likewise serve a copy to each opposing party, the
service of which shall be duly indicated on the original copy to be
submitted to the Commission. Public notice shall be given of the
termination of the formal investigation.

SECTION 19.    Submission of Draft Report of Findings for Collegial Deliberation.
— Within one hundred (100) days from the receipt of advice and records
of the case from the Secretary, a copy of the draft report of findings
shall be submitted for Collegial Deliberation.

SECTION 20.    Disclosure Of Essential Facts/Comments on the Essential Facts.
— The Commission shall, before a final determination is made, inform
all the interested parties in writing of the essential facts relied upon
which form the basis for the decision to apply definitive measures.
Parties are given only one opportunity to comment on the essential facts
within five (5) days from receipt stating therein their views on what
the facts should be, including among others supporting documents and
computation(s) for the consideration by the Commission.

SECTION 21.    Final Report . — Within 120 days from
receipt of the report of preliminary findings including the records of
the case, the Commission shall submit its report of findings and
decision, whether favorable or not, to the Secretary. The report of the
Commission shall include, among others, a concise statement of the facts
of the case, including the amount of dumping duty to be levied,
collected or paid, if any.

The decision to impose or not a definitive anti-dumping duty even
when all the requirements for the imposition of an anti-dumping duty
have been fulfilled, rests on the Commission’s prerogative, which may
consider, among others, the effect of imposing an anti-dumping duty on
the welfare of consumers and/or the general public, and other related
local industries. The Commission may suspend the imposition of the
anti-dumping duty for the same justification as in the non-imposition
until such time as situation warrants the imposition. The Commission
shall furnish the parties concerned with copies of the public version of
its report.

SECTION 22.    Motion for Reconsideration . — No Motion for Reconsideration shall be filed directly against the final ruling of the Commission.

The Commission, will act within a period of ten (10) days from the
receipt of the endorsement of the Secretary of the Motion for
Reconsideration filed against the Department Order of the Secretary
involving the ruling of the Commission for its comments/resolution. The
Commission may request the comments of the other party in the event that
none was required nor one was filed before the Secretary, The
Commission shall transmit its report to the Secretary within one (1) day
from the date of the report.

SECTION 23.    Review of Anti-Dumping Duty. — The
Commission may motu proprio, or upon direction of the Secretary, review
the need for the continued imposition of the anti-dumping duty, taking
into consideration the need to protect the existing domestic industry
against dumping. The investigation on this matter shall include Public
Consultation wherein all expenses for publication of notice of
consultation shall be defrayed by the applicant.

SECTION 24.    Counsel of Record. — Any party who signs a
document filed pursuant to these Rules and Regulations on behalf of any
party shall be the Counsel of Record for the party and shall continue
in that capacity until a change, if any, is made. A party in proceeding
may change the party’s counsel of record by serving the Commission a
Notice of Change of Counsel signed by the new counsel and agreed to by
the previous counsel.

At the Preliminary Conference, parties of records shall notify the
presiding officer of the name and addresses of their respective lead
counsel and an alternate/collaborating counsel who will take over in the
event that the lead counsel of record has indicated that he is not
available to appear in a scheduled date and/or subsequent hearing/s.

SECTION 25.    Presiding Officer . — Public Consultation
on the merits shall be presided by the Chairman and Member
Commissioner/s or by any one of them provided that, in case of mere
postponement and/or resetting of scheduled consultation, the Executive
Director or any senior official of the Commission, upon instruction, may
be required to preside.

SECTION 26.    Venue of Public Consultation . — Unless
otherwise decided by the Commission to be held in another place, the
public consultation shall be conducted at the Conference Room of the
Tariff Commission, 5/F Philippine Heart Center Building, East Avenue,
Diliman, Quezon City.

SECTION 27.    Fees . — Pursuant to Executive Order No.
159 and the provisions of Section 511 of the Tariff and Customs Code, as
amended, the Commission shall, for purposes of implementing this
investigation, collect the following fees and charges:

a.         Cost of Investigations          
                                                                                   
P10,000.00

b.         Photocopy of other documents (excluding transcript of stenographic notes) per case  P2.00

The cost of publication, which covers the following notices, to
wit (a) Initiation of formal investigation (b) Public Consultation and
(c) Termination of formal investigation shall, be at the expense of the
Protestant.

Nonpayment of the cost of investigation and cost of publication
within five (5) days from notice of billing is an indication that the
protestant is not serious in pursuing the formal investigation and as
such may cause the suspension of the formal investigation and the
running of the time for the Commission to complete its formal
investigation.

SECTION 28.    Transcript of the Proceedings . — In all
proceedings before the Commission, it shall be the duty of the
Commission’s stenographer to take down all notes in the proceedings; and
immediately, thereafter, shall transcribe thereof and file the same
with the records of the case, duly certified, initialed on each page and
signed on the last page. It shall be made available to all interested
parties for a fee.

SECTION 29.    Repealing Clause. — This order repeals
Tariff Commission Order No. 96-01 dated October 27, 1996 on
investigation by the Commission under Section 301 of the Tariff and
Customs Code, as amended by Republic Act No. 8752 dated August 12, 1999.

SECTION 30.    Effectivity . — The foregoing Revised
Rules and Regulations shall take effect fifteen (15) days from the date
of filing of three (3) certified copies thereof with the University of
the Philippines Law Center, Diliman, Quezon City.

Adopted: 21 June 2000

(SGD.) EMMANUEL T. VELASCO, PH.D.
Chairman