G/SG/N/7/PHL/9  
G/SG/N/8/PHL/10  
G/SG/N/11/PHL/11  
 
4 February 2019  
(19-0613) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Safeguards  Original: English  
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER A RTICLE 12.4 OF THE A GREEMENT ON  
SAFEGUARDS  BEFORE TAKING A PROV ISIONAL SAFEGUARD  
MEASURE REFERRED  TO IN ARTICLE 6  
NOTIFICATION UNDER A RTICLE 12.1(B) OF TH E AGREEMENT ON  
SAFEGUARDS  ON FINDING A SERIOUS  INJURY OR THREAT  
THEREOF CAUSED BY  INCREASED IMPORTS  
NOTIFICATION PURSUAN T TO ARTICLE 9, FOOT NOTE 2  
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS  
PHILIPPINES  
(Cement)  
The following communication, dated 30 January  2019, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of the Philippines.1 
 
___________ ____  
 
 
Further to G/SG/N/6/PHL/11 dated 24  September  2018 and pursuant to Article  12 and Article  9 of 
the WTO Agreement on Safeguards, the Permanent Mission of the Philippines to the WTO hereby 
notifies the Committee on Safeguards of its preliminary determ ination findings on the investigation 
on the importation of cement from various countries, and before taking a provisional safeguard 
measure under Article 6 of the Safeguards Agreement.  
 
1  PROVIDE THE PRECISE DESCRIPTION OF THE P RODUCTS INVOLVED  
Cement class ified under AHTN Codes 2523.2990 and 2523.9000.  
 
2  SPECIFY THE PROPOSED  PROVISIONAL SAFEGUA RD MEASURE  
The provisional safeguard measure will take the form of a cash bond amounting to Philippine 
Peso 210 per metric ton (PhP  210/MT) on all importations of ceme nt classified under AHTN 
Codes  2523.2990 and 2523.9000 for a period of 200 days from the date of issuance by the Bureau 
of Customs (BOC) of the relevant Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) or fifteen (15) days after the 
publication of the DTI Order in two (2) n ewspapers of general circulation, whichever comes earlier. 
The shipments of cement that are in transit prior to the effectivity of the Order shall be exempted 
from the imposition of the provisional safeguard measure. The Order was signed by the Secretary 
of the DTI on 17  January  2019.  
 
Imports originating from developing countries listed in Annex  A shall not be subject to the provisional 
safeguard measure.  
 
                                                
1 A copy of the DTI Administrative Order has been submitted electronically. To consult this document 
please contact Ms. Budd ( hilary.budd@wto.org ) or Ms. Naville ( delphine.naville@wto.org ) of the Rules Division.  G/SG/N/7/PHL/9 • G/SG/N/8/PHL/10 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/11  
 
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  3  SPECIFY THE PROPOSED  DATE OF INTRODUCTIO N OF THE PROVISIONAL  SAFEGUARD 
MEASURE  
The provisional safegu ard measure is scheduled to enter into force upon issuance by the Bureau of 
Customs (BOC) of the relevant Customs Memorandum Order (CMO) or fifteen (15) days after the 
publication of the DTI Order in two (2) newspapers of general circulation, whichever com es earlier. 
The Order signed by the Secretary of the DTI was published in two newspapers of general circulation 
on 25  January  2019.  
 
4  EXPECTED DURATION OF  THE PROVISIONAL SAF EGUARD MEASURE, IF A NY DECISION 
ON THE DURATION OF T HE SAFEGUARD MEASURE  HAS BEEN MADE  
The provisional safeguard measure will be in force for two hundred (200) days.  
 
5  PROVIDE THE BASIS FO R: 
(a) Making a preliminary determination, as provided for in Article  6, that increased 
imports have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury  
 
A review of the evidence made available to DTI shows:  
 
1) That the volume of cement imports : 
• in absolute terms, increased continuously from 2013 to 2017, the period of investigation 
(POI);  
• the increases compared with the previous years are: in 2014  – 70%, in  2015 – 4,401%, 
in 2016 – 550%, in 2017 – 72%;  
• in relative terms, the share of imports also increased during the POI, from 0.02% in 
2013 to 15% in 2017.  
 
2) That the increased imports caused serious injury to the domestic industry as follows:  
• despite signific ant increases in market size, the market share of domestic manufacturers 
declined;  
• from a small share in the domestic market between 2013 to 2015, the share of imported 
cement grew to 8% and 13% in 2016 and 2017, respectively;  
• while the domestic industry 's sales revenues increased from 2013 to 2016, it went down 
by P11.1 billion in 2017, a decline of 12% over the previous year;  
• while earnings before interest and taxes increased from 2013 to 2016 by 6%, 15%, and 
8%, respectively, the industry experienced a s harp decline in earnings of 49% in 2017;  
• the weighted average landed cost of imports is lower than the average selling price of 
the domestic product indicating a price undercutting of 14%;  
• cement manufacturers have been forced to reduce prices by almost 10 % to compete 
with lower -priced imported cement.  
 
3) That increased imports were the substantial cause of serious injury to the domestic industry 
based on the following:  
• the significant increase in the volume of imported cement preceded the serious injury to 
the industry in 2017;  
• the conditions of competition show that the market share of locally produced cement 
was essentially displaced as the share of imports in the domestic market significantly 
increased.  
 
(b) Determining that there are critical circumstances where delay would cause damage 
which it would be difficult to repair  
 
There are factors that contributed to the existence of critical circumstances, such as zero tariff rates 
for imported cement which allowed exporters to easily penetrate the  market. Further, foreign mills 
export excess production to other countries including the Philippines.  
 
6  OFFER OF CONSULTATIO NS 
The Government of the Philippines offers consultations on the provisional safeguard measures.  G/SG/N/7/PHL/9 • G/SG/N/8/PHL/10 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/11  
 
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  ANNEX  
LIST OF DEVELOPING C OUNTRIES AND SEPARATE CUSTOMS  TERITORIES  
EXCLUDED FROM THE  IMPOSITION OF THE PR OVISIONAL SAFEGUARD MEASURE  
ON THE IMPORTATION O F CEMENT  
East & Southern 
Africa  West Africa  North Africa  South Asia  
Angola  
Botswana  
Burundi  
Comoros  
Congo Dem. Rep. 
Djibouti  
Eritrea  
Eswatini  
Ethiopia  
Kenya  
Lesotho  
Madagascar  
Malawi  
Mauritius  
Mozambique  
Namibia  
Reunion  
Rwanda  
Seychelles  
Somalia  
South Africa  
Sudan  
Tanzania  
Uganda  
Zambia  
Zimbabwe  Benin  
Burkina Faso  
Cameroon  
Cape Verde  
Central African Rep.  
Chad 
Congo, Rep.  
Cote d'Ivoire  
Equatorial Guinea  
Gabon  
Gambia, The  
Ghana  
Guinea  
Guinea, Bissau  
Liberia  
Mali 
Mauritania  
Niger  
Nigeria  
Sao Tome & Principe  
Senegal  
Sierra Leone  
Togo Algeria  
Egypt, Arab Rep.  
Libya 
Morocco  
Tunisia  Afghanistan  
Bangladesh  
Bhutan  
British Indian Ocean  
  Territory  
East Timor  
India 
Maldives  
Nepal  
Pakistan  
Sri Lanka  
 
  G/SG/N/7/PHL/9 • G/SG/N/8/PHL/10 • G/SG/N/11/PHL/11  
 
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East & Central Asia  Middle East  Americas  East Asia & Pacific  
Albania  
Armenia  
Azerbaijan  
Belarus  
Bosnia &  
  Herzegovina  
Bulgaria  
Croatia  
Cyprus  
Czech Republic  
Estonia  
Georgia  
Greenland  
Hungary  
Kazakhstan  
Kyrgyz Republic  
Latvia  
Lithuania  
Macedonia, FYR  
Malta  
Moldova  
Poland  
Romania  
Russian Federation  
Slovakia  
Slovenia  
Tajikistan  
Turkey  
Turkmenistan  
Ukraine  
Uzbekistan  
Yuguslavia, Fed. Rep.  Bahrain  
Iran, Islamic Rep.  
Iraq 
Israel  
Jordan  
Kuwait  
Lebanon  
Oman  
Qatar  
Saudi Arabia  
Syrian Arab Rep.  
United Arab Emirates  
West Bank & Gaza  
Yemen, Rep.  Anguilla  
Antigua & Barbuda  
Argentina  
Aruba  
Bahamas  
Barbados  
Belize  
Bermuda  
Bolivia  
Brazil  
British Virgin Islands  
Cayman Islands  
Chile 
Colombia  
Costa Rica 
Cuba 
Dominica  
Dominican Rep.  
Ecuador  
El Salvador  
Falkland Is. (Malvinas)  
French Guiana  
Grenada  
Guadaloupe  
Guatemala  
Guyana  
Haiti 
Honduras  
Jamaica  
Martinique  
Mexico  
Montserrat  
Netherland Antilles  
Nicaragua  
Norfolk Islands  
Panama  
Paraguay  
Peru 
Puerto Rico 
St. Helena  
St. Kitts & Navis  
St. Lucia  
St. Pierre & Miquelon  
St. Vincent & the  
  Grenadines  
Suriname  
Trinidad & Tobago  
Turks & Caicos Islands  
Uruguay  
US Virgin Islands  
Venezuela  American Samoa  
Brunei Darussalam  
Cambodia  
Christmas Is.  
Chinese Taipei  
Cocos (Keeling) Is.  
Cook Is.  
Fiji 
French Polynesia  
Guam  
Hong Kong, China  
Indonesia  
Johnston Is.  
Kiribati  
Korea, Dem. Rep.  
Korea, Rep.  
Lao, PDR  
Macau, China  
Malaysia  
Marshall Islands  
Micronesia, Fed. Sts.  
Midway Is.  
Mongolia  
Myanmar  
Nauru  
New Caledonia  
Niue 
Northern Marianas Is.  
Palau  
Pitcaim Is.  
Papua New Guinea  
Samoa  
Singapore  
Solomon Islands  
Tokelau  
Tonga  
Tuvalu  
Vanuatu  
Wake Is.  
Wallis & Futuna Is.  
 
__________