G/TBT/N/PHL/190  
 
12 March 2015  
(15-1410)  Page: 1/3  
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade  Original: English  
 
  NOTIFICATION 
The following notification is being circulated in accordance with Article 10.6 
 
1. Notifying Member: PHILIPPINES  
If applicable, name of local government involved (Article 3.2 and 7.2):    
2. Agency responsible: 
Bureau of Philippine Standards 
Department of Tr ade and Industry 
Name and address (including telephon e and fax numbers, email and website 
addresses, if available) of agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be indicated if different from above : 
Bureau of Philippine Standards Department of Trade and Industry 361 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue 
Makati City, Metro Manila 
Philippines E-mail: bps@dti.gov.ph /ajoycebrana@gmail.com   
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10.1 [  ], 5.6.2 [  ], 5.7.1 [  ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applic able, otherwise national tariff heading. 
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable): This Department 
Administrative Order (DAO) prescribes the rules and regulations on Product Safety 
Certification Scheme for all products under BPS technical regulation, whether locally 
manufactured/assembled or imported. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document: 
Department Administrative Order No. ____ Series of _____ 
Subject: the new rules and regulations concerning the Product Safety Certification Scheme of 
the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS) (15 pages, in English) 
6. Description of content:  This edition of the DAO cancels and replaces the DAO No. 4, 
Series of 2008 and DAO no. 5, Series of 2008 which has been technically revised to 
introduce the following changes.  
1. Merging of DAO Nos. 4 and 5 into one technical regulation. 
Note: Under the TBT Agreement, maintaining se parate guidelines for imported products 
and locally manufactured products is against the WTO's National Treatment principle. 
Member Economy must ensure that regulations, standards, testing and certification procedure do not create unnecessary obstacles to trade. 
2. Focus is on safety  parameters: the objective of the Product Safety Certification 
Scheme is to safeguard consumers' interest by ensuring that products designated 
under technical regulation meet the specified safety standards. Performance is left to the market as competitive advantage. 
2.1 Category of products: 
2.1.1 Mandatory Certification G/TBT/N/PHL/190 
 
- 2 - 
 
  2.1.2 Mandatory Labelling with Self-Declaration of Conformity 
2.1.3 Voluntary Declaration 
2.2 Delisting of products without safety issues from the BPS List of Products under 
Mandatory Certification, but for strict compliance and monitoring with mandatory 
labelling: 
2.2.1 Ceramic tiles 
2.2.2 Flat glass (raw material) 
2.2.3 UPVC rigid electrical conduit 2.2.4 Plywood 
2.2.5 Steel sheets for roofing 
2.2.6 Steel wires (low carbon) 2.2.7 Wire nails 
3. Reduce costs of doing business (waiting time and handling costs) 
4. Removal of the Conditional Release 
5. Full transparency in procedures and requirements: 
5.1 Mutual recognition of test result and conf ormity evaluation by accredited laboratory 
and CABs (inspection and testing at country of origin) consistent with the principle of 
Equivalence as stated in the TBT Agreement. 
5.2 Simplify documentary requirements by requiring long term documents (such as 
SEC registration) only once a year 
6. Intensified product and market surveillance: 
6.1 Random sampling at post market 6.2 Implementation of suppliers Self-Declaration under the Marking and Labelling 
Framework. 
Suppliers must take responsibility for the prod ucts they place in the             
market, whether they are imported or domestically produced. Markings and labels 
indicate that products comply with the applicable standards. They also establish a 
traceable link between a product and the supplier responsible for placing it on the market. 
At the domestic market, the revisions addressed: 
1. Entry and proliferation of uncertified and/or substandard products in the market 
2. Technical capability constraints such as testing capability accredited laboratory, lack 
of technically-trained manpower; 
3. Reducing the cost of doing business (reducing documentary requirement and 
administrative procedures, shorter processing time, less handling costs i.e. warehousing, eliminates multiple handling of the products and waiting time for lab 
test result and inspection time). 
4. Increases assurance of the availability of safe products in the market. 
5. Less interface with the certification body thus guarding impartiality of the BPS 
decision-making process. 
6. Less issues relative to port congestion and the auction of seized/substandard 
products. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: 
The objective of the Product Safety Certification Scheme is to ensure that products designated under technical regulation meet the specified safety requirement/s consistent 
with a mechanism of safeguarding impartiality set forth in ISO 17065. G/TBT/N/PHL/190 
 
- 3 - 
 
  8. Relevant documents:  
 DAO 4 Series of 2008: The New Rules and Regulations concerning the Philippine 
Standard (PS) Quality and/or Safety Certification Mark Scheme of the Bureau of 
Product Standards (BPS); 
 DAO 5 Series of 2008: The New Rules and Regulations concerning the issuance of 
the Product Certification of the Bureau of Philippine Standards (BPS); 
 ISO/IEC 17065 – Conformity Assessment – Requirements for Bodies Certifying 
Products, Processes and Services; 
 ISO/IEC 17067 – Conformity Assessment – Fundamentals of Product Certification 
and Guidelines for Product Certification Schemes; 
 ISO 19011 – Guidelines for Auditing; 
 ISO 9000 – Quality Management System – Fundamentals and Vocabulary; 
 ISO/IEC 9001 – Quality Management Systems – Requirements. 
9. Proposed date of adoption: - 
Proposed date of entry into force: This order shall take effect 15 days after publication in 
a newspaper of general circulation   
10. Final date for comments: 60 days from notification 
11. Texts available from: Nati onal enquiry point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and email and website addresses, if available, of other body:  
Office of th e Director 
Bureau of Philippine Standards Department of Tr ade and Industry 
361 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue 
Makati City, Metro Manila 
Philippines E-mail: bps@dti.gov.ph   
Telephone No.: (632) 751-3130 
Fax: (632) 751-4706