The good news is the government will exempt electric vehicles and parts from tariffs until 2028.
But the bad news is that restrictions on e-tricycles,e-bikes and other electric vehicles except cars on main roads would stay.
This somehow spells out the ambiguity in the government's acceptance of EVs in the Philippines and its sincerity in making good on its commitment to clean fuels.
The National Economic and Development Authority board, chaired by the President, approved the recommendation of the inter-agency Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) to not impose tariffs on EVs, parts and components until 2028.
The decision was reached after the CTRM’s review of Executive Order No. 12 series of 2023. The order temporarily modified the rates of import duty on electric vehicles (EVs), their parts, and components under the purview of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.
“Executive Order No. 12 is designed to stimulate the electric vehicle (EV) market in the country, support the transition to emerging technologies, reduce our transport system’s reliance on fossil fuels, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions attributed to road transport,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
“By encouraging consumers to adopt EVs, we are promoting a cleaner, more resilient, and more environmentally friendly transportation alternative,” he added.
The board will continue the Most Favored Nation (MFN) rate of zero until 2028 on 34 tariff lines of battery electric vehicles currently covered under EO 12.
It has also expanded the list of articles with reduced duty to include e-motorcycles and e-bicycles, and nickel metal hydride accumulators, and reduce the duty on these articles to zero until 2028, Business Mirror reported.
The expansion in the coverage of EO 12 also includes other types of EVs, particularly battery e-tricycles and quadricycles; and battery, hybrid EV (HEV) and plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) jeepneys/buses.
Also included in the list are HEV and PHEV cars and trucks as well as completely knocked down (CKD) EVs for all types of vehicles.
The tariffs on these articles shall be reduced to zero until 2028.
Last week, Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual said imposing zero tariffs on hybrid vehicles is “not justifiable” right now as doing so would go against the government's goal of having electric vehicles (EVs) ubiquitous in the industry.
Pascual said the objective of reducing tariffs on pure electric vehicles is to “have the critical mass of EVs to make the setting up of charging stations a feasible business, feasible operation.”
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