WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/SG/N/11/PHL/1/Suppl.3 
G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.3 3 March 2009 
 
(09-1085) 
Committee on Safeguards Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 9, FOOTNOTE 2, 
OF THE AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
 
NOTIFICATION UNDER ARTICLE 12.1(C) OF THE  
AGREEMENT ON SAFEGUARDS 
(EXTENSION OF THE EXISTING MEASURE)  
 
PHILIPPINES 
 
(Ceramic Floor and Wall Tiles)
 
 
Supplement  
   The following communication, dated 26 February 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of the Philippines.   
 
_______________ 
 
  Further to G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.2 dated 13 February 2008, the Permanent Mission of the 
Philippines to the WTO notifies that, on 10 February 2009 the safeguard duty on ceramic floor and 
wall tiles was reduced from Philippine Pesos 2.00 per kil ogram for the first year of the final extension 
of the measure, to Philippine Pesos 1.86 per ki logram for the second year.  The Philippines requests 
that the Secretariat make available the full text of th e order to those Members that wish to consult it.   
  G/SG/N/11/PHL/1/Suppl.3 
G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.3 Page 2 
 
 
  IN THE MATTER OF THE  SECOND YEAR  OF THE FINAL EXTENSION OF THE 
DEFINITIVE GENERAL SAFEGUARD MEASURE AGAINST THE IMPORTATION OF 
CERAMIC FLOOR AND WALL TILES FROM VARIOUS COUNTRIES 
 
(AHTN Code Nos. 6907.9010, 6907.9090, 6908.9011, 6908.9019, 6908.9021,  
6908.9029, 6908.9090) 
(Safeguard Investigation No. 01-2007) 
 
Ceramic Tile Manufacturers' Association 
Petitioner 
 
 
ORDER 
  
 On 21 January 2008, the Secretary of DTI issued an Order reducing the amount of the definitive general safeguard measure on impor tation of ceramic floor and wall tiles to P
2.00/kg for the 
first year of the final extension period.  The safegua rd measure for the first year of the final extension 
period was implemented on 14 February 2008, through the issuance of CMO No. 8-2008 by the 
Bureau of Customs (BOC).   
 
 The DTI Order, likewise, provides that the sa feguard duty for the second (2nd) year of the 
final extension period will be subj ect to an annual review as prov ided under Rule 15.6 of the IRR 
of RA 8800.    
 On 26 September 2008, DTI notified and re quested the domestic industry, importers, 
exporters and other concerned parties to submit their position paper on the on-going review to 
determine the appropriate amount of  the safeguard measure for the second year of the final extension 
period.  Responses were received from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Malaysia (MITI), Department of Foreign Trade of Thailand and Ceramic Tile Manufacturers' 
Association (CTMA).   
 
 The DTI reviewed the movement in prices for both locally produced and imported ceramic floor and wall tiles as well as the import trends from 2007 to January-September 2008.  Selling price of domestic product in 2007 was lower by 14 per cent than weighted average landed cost of imports 
with safeguard duty.  In 2008 (January to Septem ber), selling price of domestic product is lower by 
7 per cent than the weighted average landed cost of imports with safeguard duty.   
  For the January to September 2008 period, PROC  contributed the biggest share of 81.57 per 
cent to total Philippine imports.  Indonesia registered  the second highest share at 4.65 per cent with 
Thailand accounting for the third highest share at  4.48 per cent. Imports from these countries 
accounted for 90.70 per cent of total Philippine imports for the period under consideration.   
 
 It was observed that the continuous growth of  low priced imports still pose a threat to the 
viability of the domestic industry and may affect the i ndustry's efforts to improve its competitiveness.   
  IN VIEW THEREOF , and in accordance with Section 19(2) of RA 8800, the following is 
hereby issued:   
 1. The amount of the measure to be imposed on the second year of the final extension of the 
definitive general safeguard measure on ceramic floo r and wall tiles from various countries shall be 
reduced to P
1.86/kg.  The measure shall continue to be lib eralized for the remaining years of the final  G/SG/N/11/PHL/1/Suppl.3 
 G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.3  Page 3 
 
 
  extension period to the extent of redressing or preven ting the injury and to facilitate adjustment by the 
domestic industry from the adverse effects dir ectly attributed to increased imports.   
 2. The imported ceramic tiles, however, from Japan and the member states of the European 
Union, which cannot be considered "like product or directly competitive product" as defined in 
Section 4 of RA 8800, are excluded from the imposi tion of the extended defi nitive general safeguard 
measure.    3. Pursuant to Section 13 of RA  8800 and Rule 13.1.d of its IRR, "a general safeguard 
measure shall not be applied to a product originat ing from a developing country if its share to 
total Philippine imports of the said product is le ss than three percent (3%):  Provided, however, 
that developing countries with less than three percent (3%) share collectively account for not 
more than nine percent (9%) of the total Ph ilippine imports of the product concerned".  The 
following countries and separate customs territories are therefore excluded from the imposition of the 
extended definitive general safeguard measu re on ceramic floor and wall tiles:   
 
East & Southern Africa West Africa 
Angola 
Botswana Burundi Comoros 
Congo. Dem. Rep. 
Djibouti Eritrea Ethiopia 
Kenya 
Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique 
Namibia Reunion Rwanda 
Seychelles 
Somalia South Africa Sudan 
Swaziland 
Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe 
 Benin 
Burkina Faso Cameroon Cape Verde 
Central African Rep. 
Chad Congro, Rep. Cote d' Ivore 
Equitorial Guinea 
Gabon Gamibi, The Ghana Guinea 
Guinea-Bissau Liberia Mali 
Mauritania 
Niger Nigeria Sao Tome & 
Principe 
Senegal  Sierra Leone Togo 
North Africa South Asia 
Algeria Egypt, Arab Rep. Libya 
Morocco 
Tunisia Afghanistan 
Bangladesh Bhutan 
British Indian Ocean Territory 
East Timor Maldives Nepal Pakistan 
Sri Lanka 
 
 
 
Americas 
Anguilla 
Antigua and Barbuda 
Argentina 
Aruba Bahamas Barbados Belize 
Bermuda Dominican Rep. 
Ecuador 
El Salvador 
Falkland Islands (Malvinas) French Guiana Granada Guadeloupe 
Guatemala Norfolk Is. 
Panama 
Paraguay 
Peru Puerto Rico St. Helena St. Kitts & Nevis 
St. Lucia G/SG/N/11/PHL/1/Suppl.3 
G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.3 Page 4 
 
 
  Americas 
Bolivia 
British Virgin Is. Cayman Islands Chile 
Colombia 
Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Guyana 
Haiti Honduras Jamaica 
Martinique 
Mexico Montserrat Netherland Antilles Nicaraguia St. Pierre & Miquelon 
St. Vincent & the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad & Tobago 
Turks and Caicos Is. 
Uruguay US Virgin Island Venezuela 
Europe & Central Asia Middle East 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 Yugoslavia, Fed. Rep. Bahrain 
Iran, Islamic Rep. Iraq Israel 
Jordan 
Kuwait Lebanon Oman Qatar 
Saudi Arabia 
Syrian Arab Rep. West Bank & Gaza Yemen, Rep. American Samoa 
Brunei Darussalam Cambodia Christmas Is. 
Cocos (Keeling) Is. 
Cook Is. Fiji French Polynesia Guam 
Johnston Is. 
Kiribati Korea, Dem. Rep. Lao PDR 
Macao, China 
Marshall Islands Micronesia, Fed. Sts. Midway Is. Mongolia 
Myanmar 
Nauru New Caledonia Niue 
Northern Marianas Island 
Palau Papua New Guinea Pitcairn Is. 
Samoa 
Singapore Soloman Islands Tokelau Tonga 
Tuvalu 
Vanuatu Wake Is. Wallis and Futuna Is. 
 
 The composition of the developing countries on the de minimis  list may change depending on 
the most recent data available during the period of annual review which will be conducted by DTI 
during the extension period.    G/SG/N/11/PHL/1/Suppl.3 
 G/SG/N/14/PHL/1/Suppl.3  Page 5 
 
 
   The notification and consultation requirem ents of Article 12 of the WTO Safeguards 
Agreement and Section 17 of RA 8800 and its IRR sh all be complied with.  Imports originating from 
ASEAN Member states shall be governed by the provi sions of Articles 6 and 8 of the Agreement on 
the CEPT Scheme.   
 
 The application of the extended definitive ge neral safeguard measure shall be monitored and 
reviewed in accordance with Sections 15 and 16 of RA 8800.     This Order shall take effect upon the issu ance of the relevant Memorandum Order by the 
Bureau of Customs or 15 days after the publication of this Order in two (2) newspapers of general 
circulation, whichever comes earlier.     Let this Order be published in two (2) newspa pers of general circul ation and let individual 
notices be sent to all interested parties including the country members concerned.   
 
 SO ORDERED.    10 February 2009  
 
 PETER B. FAVILA 
 Secretary 
 
 
 
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