Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Queson City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

41
HOUSE BILL NO.

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Measurement has a role in most of the things we do from day to day. Measurement
is indispensable from measuring the ratio of rice to water in cooking to measuring the
distance between your house and your workplace to estimate travel time,

Recognizing this fact, we are proposing to strengthen the National Metrology
Division of the Department of Science and Technology and reorganize them into the
National Measurement Institute of the Philippines in order to maintain and
continuously update the national measurement standards in all relevant fields in the
country. Under this bill, the institute will be designated as the country’s primary
agency for policy, program coordination and administrative supervision for
metrology.

The bill also proposes to establish the National Metrology Training Center in order to
provide capacity building trainings of calibration laboratories, national regulators,
local government units and other entities responsible for implementing legal
metrological controls. This is especially important in maintaining standards for
government programs and projects such as infrastructure. The bill aims to ensure
that measurements in the country are reliable.

The approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

LUIS RA’ IND AY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
Queson City

EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL No. 2441

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.

AN ACT
MODERNIZING THE NATIONAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM (NMS) OF THE
PHILIPPINES, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines
in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known and cited as the “Modernized
National Measurement System Act’.

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — \t is hereby declared to be the policy of the
State to facilitate the development of scientific and technical knowledge and
progress in the national economy by providing a modernized National Measurement
System (NMS) that will ensure the integrity of measurements in the country, meet
regional and international requirements, and provide support for the competitiveness
of Philippine products and services. The State shall also support the undertaking of
necessary activities to promote metrology, to develop appropriate infrastructures, to
support research in metrology and to protect the health, safety and interest of every
citizen and his environment against possible abuse related to measurements.

The State shall support the harmonization of national requirements, including
technical regulations, document standards and conformity assessment procedures,
with international requirements as envisioned in the ASEAN Economic Community


(AEC), World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international agreements and
covenants resulting to free flow of goods and services, and a predictable trading
environment.

The State shall provide support to metrology research and development for
the purpose of continuously improving the national measurement standards and their
measurement uncertainties, developing novel measurement techniques and
technologies aiming at Philippine industry take-up to stimulate industrial innovation;
coming-up with solutions for societal challenges focusing on contributions for energy
efficiency, food security, environment protection, and citizen's health, security and
economic well-being; and address locally the measurement needs of society and
industry.

SECTION 3. Scope. — This Act shall cover all agencies, institutions, entities involved
in metrological activities and processes, both private and public.

SECTION 4. Objectives. - In furtherance of the policies enunciated in this Act, the
following objectives shall be pursued:

(a) Transform the existing National Metrology Division of the Industrial
Technology Development Institute to the National Measurement Institute of
the Philippines directly under the Department of Science and Technology;

(b) Designate the National Measurement Institute of the Philippines as the
country's national metrology institute;

(c) Ensure that measurements in the country are reliable;

(d) Strengthen and harmonize the country’s measurement system in
accordance to international best practices to support confidence to in
measurements in for regulation, trade and manufacturing;

(e) Implement legal metrological controls of measuring instruments in the
country-in the interest of fair trade, health, safety, law enforcement, and
environment protection.

(f) Disseminate knowledge on state-of-the-art calibration techniques and
develop competencies on legal metrological controls through capacity
building programs; and


(9)

Foster a metrology culture that will instill a keen appreciation of the
metrology as a discipline through the integration of metrology courses in the
educational system.

SECTION 5. Definition of Terms. - For the purpose of harmonizing with
international best practices, the following terms are in reference to the International
Vocabulary of Metrology and International Vocabulary of Legal Metrology:

(a)

(b)

(oc)

(a)

(e)

Accreditation — is the process in which an authoritative body formally
recognizes the competence, impartiality and capability of an organization to
carry out specific activities, such as certification, testing, calibration and
inspection.

ASEAN Common Requirements of Prepackaged Products - is a
regionally-agreed document specifying the labeling requirements and
allowed quantity deficiency in prepackaged products for ASEAN Member
States namely Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Asia Pacific Legal Metrology Forum (APLMF) - is a grouping of legal
metrology authorities from the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation Member
economies and other economies in the Pacific Rim for the development of
legal metrology and promotion of free and open trade in the Asia Pacific
region through harmonization and removal of technical or administrative
barriers to trade in the field of legal metrology.

Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP) — is a grouping of national
metrology institutes from the Asia-Pacific region for the promotion and
‘support of a measurement infrastructure in the Asia Pacific region that
facilitates international trade, improves industrial efficiency and
competitiveness, ensures equity in the marketplace, and enhances the
quality of life and the environment through reliable measurements.
Calibration — operation that, under specified conditions, in a first step,
establishes a relation between the quantity values with measurement
uncertainties provided by measurement standards and corresponding
indications with associated measurement uncertainties and, in a second


(9)

(h)

10)

@

(k)

0)

step, uses this information to establish a relation for obtaining a
measurement result from an indication.

Calibration laboratories — public or private entities that perform tests
and/or calibrations in a permanent, temporary, or remote location.
Certification — procedure by which a third party provides written attestation
that a product, process or service meets specified requirements.
Conformity assessment — is a set of processes that shows a product,
service or system meets specified requirements. The main forms of
conformity assessment are testing, certification, and inspection.

Designated institutes — are organizations or entities appointed by a
country’s national metrology institute to hold specific measurement
standards or services that are not covered by the national metrology
institute.

Inspection — examination of a measuring instrument to ascertain all or
some of the following: verification mark and/or certificate is valid, no sealing
marks are damaged, after verification the instrument suffered no obvious
modification, its errors do not exceed the maximum permissible in service
errors. Inspection of a measuring instrument may be done only after
verification.

International System of Units or Systéme International d'Unités (SI) in
French — is the modern metric system establishing seven base units for
base quantities namely metre for length, kilogram for mass, second for time,
ampere for electric current, kelvin for thermodynamic temperature, mole for
amount of substance and candela for luminous intensity. The derived units
of the SI (e.g. metre per second, watt, newton, etc.) are then formed as
products of powers of the base units, according to the algebraic relations
that define the corresponding derived quantities in terms of the base
quantities.

Legal metrological controls — series of evaluations and periodic checks
performed on regulated measuring instruments throughout their lifetime to
monitor if they are still suitable for their intended use. For prepackaged
products, it refers to the checking of the quantities contained in the package
with reference to the quantity indicated in the label.

(m) Legal metrology — is the practice and process of applying regulatory


(n)

(0)

(p)

(a)

10)

(s)

(t)

(u)

(v)

structure and enforcement to measurements and measuring instruments to
ensure trade and legal decisions are fair, and that the health, safety and
interest of every citizen and his environment are protected against possible
abuse related to wrong measurements.

Legal units of measurement — units of measurement required or permitted
by regulations.

Measurement standard — is a material measure, measuring instrument,
reference material or measuring system intended to define, realize,
conserve or reproduce a unit, or one or more values of a quantity to serve
as a reference.

Measuring instrument — is a device used for making measurements, alone
or in conjunction with one or more supplementary devices. This may be an
indicating measuring instrument or a material measure.

Metre Convention - is a diplomatic treaty which established a permanent
organizational structure for member governments to act in common accord
on all matters relating to metrology.

Metrological traceability — is the property of a measurement result
whereby the result can be related to a reference through a documented
unbroken chain of calibrations, each contributing to the measurement
uncertainty.

Metrology — science of measurement and its application. It includes all
theoretical and practical aspects of measurement.

National accreditation body — is a national organization which attests to
the competence and impartiality of conformity assessment bodies (testing
and calibration laboratories, certification and inspection bodies), according
to internationally accepted standards.

National measurement standards — measurement standard recognized by
national authority to serve in a state or economy as the basis for assigning
quantity values to other measurement standards for the kind of quantity
concerned.

National Measurement System (NMS) — collective infrastructure of
national facilities, expertise, knowledge and research, and is also a legal
framework for reliable, consistent and internationally recognized


measurement. The infrastructure encompasses essential elements of both

the public and private sector.

National metrology institutes - are bodies with the responsibility of

maintaining the national measurement standards and disseminating the SI

Units nationally (i.e. they provide metrological traceability).

(x) International Organization for Legal Metrology or Organisation
Internationale de Métrologie Légale (O/ML) in French - is an
intergovernmental organization comprising of one hundred twenty-six (126)

(w)

governments that establishes the coordination and harmonization at the
international level the administrative and technical regulations applied to
measurements and measuring instruments passed by different
governments.

(y) OIML recommendations - are model regulations that establish the
metrological characteristics required of certain measuring instruments and
which specify methods and equipment for checking their conformity. These
model regulations are concerned with the acceptable tolerances referred to
as maximum permissible errors, within which regulated measurements and
measuring instruments should operate despite variations in temperature and
humidity, power supply and electromagnetic interference.

(z) Prepackaged products — are commodities that are enclosed in a container
or wrapped in any manner, and for which their quantities have been
determined and indicated on their labels prior to being offered for sale. The
quantity contained cannot be changed without the prepackaged product
being opened or doing a perceptible modification.

(aa) Proficiency testing - is a comparison activity that determines the
performance of individual laboratories for specific tests or measurements
and is used to monitor laboratories’ continuing performance.

(bb) Working measurement standard — is a measurement standard that is
used routinely to calibrate or verify measuring instruments or measuring
systems.

SECTION 6. National Measurement Institute of the Philippines. — The National
Metrology Division (NMD), a division under Industrial Technology Development
Institute responsible for establishing and maintaining the national measurement


standards in physical quantities, is hereby transformed to the National Measurement
Institute of the Philippines (NMIPhil). Thereafter, all powers, functions, duties,
records, files and assets including plantilla positions of the NMD shall be transferred
to the NMIPhil. There shall be no diminution of rank and salaries, allowances and
benefits of transferred employees. New employees of NMIPhil shall be entitled to the
same allowances and benefits as those of the transferred employees.

The NMIPhil shall be designated as the country’s national metrology institute. It shall
be an attached agency of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for
policy, program coordination and administrative supervision.

The NMIPhil shall be headed by a Director General. The Director General shall be
appointed by the President upon recommendation by the Secretary of the DOST and
shall receive the benefits, privileges and emoluments equivalent to the rank of
Undersecretary.

As the chief executive officer of the NMIPhil, the Director General shall exercise
general supervision and control to its technical and administrative personnel and
‘shall be assisted by at least one (1) Deputy Director General.

The NMIPhil, in coordination with the Department of Budget and Management and
the Civil Service Commission, shall determine the appropriate administrative and
technical support complement necessary for the effective and efficient operations of
the Institute.

SECTION 7. Functions, Duties and Responsibilities of the National
Measurement Institute of the Philippines. - The NMIPhil shall have the following
functions:

(a) Maintain and continuously update the national measurement standards in all
relevant fields for the Philippines; as such the NMIPhil shall guarantee that
all metrological laboratories, infrastructure, equipment, instruments, artifacts,
reference standards and other similar articles are in good condition,


(b)

(o)
(d)

(e)

(9)

(h)

(i)

(k)

0)

internationally compliant and reliant and other qualities that may be required
in the future;

provide metrological traceability to the International System of Units (SI) for
measurements used in regulations, trade and manufacturing;

facilitate international harmonization and comparability of measurements;
strengthen the collaboration with calibration laboratories in the areas of
capacity building-and harmonization of measurement procedures;

offer technical support to industry in measurement related issues;

appoint competent laboratories as “Designated Institutes” for specific
measurement fields of national interest not covered by the national
metrology institute e.g. ionizing radiation and time among others;

coordinate with other local institutes/bodies having metrological
responsibilities (radiation, standard time and dissemination, etc)

disseminate knowledge and competencies in metrology through education
and capacity building programs to relevant regulatory bodies and other
entities responsible for the implementation of legal metrological controls
engage and/or coordinate research and development work in metrology;
strengthen and develop a human resource development program. Hence,
there shall be a continuing human resource development program; provided
that capacity building activities needed to upgrade capacities of technical
personnel to a travel bond or its equivalent return of service as determined
by existing laws. Otherwise, the NMIPhil may invite foreign experts to
conduct trainings, render technical services such as repair, calibration and
the like, which shall be charged to its funds.

represent the Philippines’ interest in international and regional metrology
organizations; and,

provide support to Quality Infrastructure-related institutes, especially
standardization and accreditation in aspects related to metrology

SECTION 8. National Measurement Standards. - The NMIPhil shall periodically
undertake metrological activities, calibration, re-calibration and other related
activities to effectively undertake its functions, duties and responsibilities, and
comply with international standards.


Any equipment, instrument, artifact, and/or other National Measurement Standards
used by NMIPhil that shall be subject to such activities, including proficiency testing,
comparison measurements, preventive maintenance and repair, requiring foreign
technical services; such processes shall be exempt from any taxes, dues, and other
impositions by the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Internal Revenue or by the
Secretary of Finance. The implementing mechanism shall be included in the
Implementing Rules and Regulations of this Act.

SECTION 9. Memberships of the Philippines. — The State shall ensure, through
the NMIPhil, that the Philippines’ measurement system is linked to the global
metrology system by becoming a Signatory to the Metre Convention, a Full Member
of the Asia Pacific Metrology Programme (APMP), a Member State of the
International Organization for Legal Metrology (OIML) and a Full Member of the Asia
Pacific Legal Metrology Forum (APLMF).

Linkages or affiliations to other international and regional metrology organizations
and/or associations, other than those mentioned, that are of interest to the country's
national measurement system, shall be established.

SECTION 10. National Metrology Board. - The National Metrology Board (NMB),
hereinafter referred to as the Board, shall be chaired by the Secretary of the DOST.
It shall be composed of the Secretaries of the following agencies or their duly
authorized representative preferably with the rank of Undersecretary, as ex officio
members:

(a) Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR)
(b) Department of Health (DOH)
(c) Department of Trade and Industry (DT!)
(d) Department of Energy (DOE)
(e) Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP)
(f) National Measurement Institute of the Philippines (NMIPhil)
(g) One (1) representative each from the:
i. manufacturing industry sector;
ii. local manufacturer of measuring instruments; and

10


iii. private calibration laboratories / professional metrology association
of national membership;

with a term of (3) years to be appointed by the Secretary of the DOST.

The Board

may call upon the heads of the following departments/agencies and

private institutions such as, but not limited to:

Department of Agriculture (DA)
Department of Justice (DOJ)

Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG)
Department of National Defense (DND)

Department of Information Communication Technology (DICT)
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH)
Department of Transportation (DOTr)

Local Government Units (LGUs)

Bureau of Customs (BOC)

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC)

Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA)

Manila Electric Company (MERALCO)

Manila Water Company, Inc.

Maynilad Water Services, Inc.

Metropolitan Manila Development Agency (MMDA)
Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS)
National Food Authority (NFA)

National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS)

National Telecommunications Commission (NTC)

il Industry Management Bureau (OIMB)

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA)

Sugar Regulatory Authority (SRA)

as the Board deems necessary for the effective implementation of this Act.

The Board

shall convene at least twice a year. Special meetings may be convened

upon the request of the Chair or majority of the Board members. Each member of

i


the Board shall be entitled to incentives and allowances for his/her attendance to
regular and special meetings based on prevailing DOST guidelines.

The National Measurement Institute of the Philippines is hereby mandated to serve
as the Board's Secretariat.

SECTION 11. Functions, Duties and Responsibilities of the National Metrology
Board. - The Board shall be responsible for legal metrological controls in the
country through the coordination with other executive branches of government, and
ensuring uniformity of procedures in the same prescribed manner and their
implementation.

In the exercise of its functions, duties and responsibilities, the Board shall have the
power to delegate authority to public and private entities to ensure that
measurements and measuring instruments used in trade, health, safety, law
enforcement and environment protection are subjected to legal metrological controls
and are complying with the relevant regulations.

The Board shall likewise perform such other functions to progressively
implement this Act.

SECTION 12. National Measurement System. - The National Measurement
System (NMS) shall provide and maintain the necessary infrastructure to support
confidence in measurements used for regulation, trade, and manufacturing in the
‘country.

The NMS shall cover the:
(a) legal units of measurement;
(b) national measurement standards;
(c) hierarchy of measurement standards and metrological traceability;
(d) national legal metrology regulations for measurements and measuring
instruments;
(e) legal metrological controls;
(f) certification system; and


(g) accreditation system.

SECTION 13. Registration of Regulated Measuring Instruments. - The State
shall require the registration of all measuring instruments used in trade, health,
safety, law enforcement and environment protection with the relevant National
Regulators and Local Government Units.

Those measuring instruments used as working measurement standards by the
National Regulators, Local Government Units, and Board-authorized entities in the
implementation of legal metrological controls, shall be registered with the Board,
through the NMB Secretariat.

SECTION 14. Legal Units of Measurement. - The International System of Units
(SI) and combinations of those units shall be the legal units of measurement
mandated to be used in the Philippines including the following:

(a) non-SI units accepted for use with the SI (e.g. minute, hour, day for time,
hectare for area, tonne for mass, bar for pressure, angstrom for length,
nautical mile for distance, decibel for sound level); and

(b) non-SI units allowed by international agreement (e.g feet for altitude
navigation and mm Hg for blood pressure).

SECTION 15. Hierarchy of Measurement Standards. — The NMIPhil shall maintain
the national measurement standards for the legal units-having the highest accuracy
for the country, and provide calibrations at appropriate levels of accuracy for the
calibration laboratories, National Regulators and Board-authorized public or private
entities to disseminate the SI units. The national measurement standards shall in all
cases be those assumed to be the most accurate measurement standards of the
country.

Private and public calibration laboratories including the DOST Regional Offices shall,
in turn provide lower-accuracy calibrations and measurements to industry and the
community using working measurement standards that have been calibrated by the
NMIPhil. Similarly, National Regulators, Local Government Units and entities
authorized by the Board, on the premise that their working measurement standards

13


are of the same accuracy level as those of the calibration laboratories, shall provide
legal metrological controls of measuring instruments using working measurement
standards calibrated by the NMIPhil.

SECTION 16. Metrological Traceability. - Measurements in both the regulated and
non-regulated areas shall be traceable to the SI through the national measurement
standards maintained by the country’s national metrology institute to ensure
international compatibility and acceptance of measurement results.

For traceability not provided through the NMIPhil, the State shall recognize
measurement standards of other national metrology institutes provided they are
internationally accepted by the global metrology community.

SECTION 17. Legal Metrological Controls. - Measuring instruments used in trade,
health, safety, law enforcement and environment protection shall be evaluated based
on the relevant OIML Recommendations and/or ASEAN Guidelines by the National
Regulators, Local Government Units and other Board-authorized entities.

Compliance to quantity and labeling requirements of prepackaged products shall be
checked by the National Regulators, Board-authorized public and private entities in
accordance with the ASEAN Common Requirements of Prepackaged Products
and/or OIML Recommendations.

SECTION 18. Right of Access. - The National Regulators, Local Government Units
and Board-authorized public or private entities, upon presentation of their credentials
and to perform their duties; shall have the right of access to every establishment or
commercial premise, where regulated measuring instruments are, or may be
installed, kept or used.

In the same manner, they shall also have the right of access to every premise or
facility where prepackaged products are manufactured, or may be filled, packed,
labeled, kept or offered for sale.


Any officer or agent of the establishments, commercial premises or other facilities
who shall refuse the inspection shall be liable to the penalties imposed under Section
25 of this Act.

SECTION 19. Certification System. - The State shall establish a certification
system to ensure that legal metrological controls are carried-out only by competent
personnel.

SECTION 20. Accreditation System. - The State shall maintain an accreditation
system to ensure the technical competence of calibration and testing laboratories in
the performance of their services under the terms of ISO/IEC 17025 “General
Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories.”

The Philippine Accreditation Bureau (PAB), as the national accreditation body of the
Philippines shall be responsible to accredit inspection, testing and certifying bodies,
and other bodies offering conformity assessment services.

SECTION 21. Prohibited Acts. - The following shall constitute prohibited acts of
any person or juridical person and are hereby declared unlawful:

(a) to sell, offer, or expose for sale goods or products with a quantity less than
the quantity represented;

(b) to represent the quantity in any manner or intending to mislead or in any
way deceive another person;

(c) failure to register regulated measuring instruments;

(d) use of unregistered regulated measuring instruments;

(e) hinder or obstruct any National Regulators, Local Government Units and
Board-authorized entities in the performance of their duties;

(f) impersonate a National Regulator, Local Government Units and Board-
authorized public and private entity;

(g) affix fake or undue conformity marking or verification marks;

(h) use of units other than the legal units of measurement in trade, commercial
transactions, documentation and advertisements for products and services,

publications, or training


(i) use of regulated measuring instruments which have not been submitted to
legal metrological control;

() use of regulated measuring instruments which have failed the legal
metrological control and are giving false/wrong measurements;

(k) affix false conformity markings or affix conformity markings illegally on
measuring instruments;

()) falsification of documents relative to legal metrological control;

(m) remove or tamper any tag, seal, or mark from any weight or measure or
measuring instrument without being duly authorized by the proper authority;
and

(n) manipulate software and/or hardware of measuring instruments to give false
measurements.

SECTION 22. National Metrology Training Center. - A National Metrology
Training Center shall be established and operated by the NMIPhil to undertake
training on metrology for the capacity building of calibration laboratories, National
Regulators, Local Government Units and other Board-authorized entities responsible
for implementing legal metrological controls in the country.

SECTION 23. Public Information/Advocacy. - The NMIPhil in collaboration with
other concerned government agencies and stakeholders, shall engage in information
campaigns and advocacy programs to increase the public's awareness on metrology
and instill greater appreciation of metrology by the public.

SECTION 24. Education. - The NMIPhil, Department of Education, Commission on
Higher Education and other concerned government agencies shall formulate the
design and details of a curriculum on metrology and its inclusion in all levels of the
Philippines’ education system.

SECTION 25. Penalties. - Any person who violates any provision of this Act shall be
penalized by imprisonment of not less than six (6) months but not more than five (5)
years or fine of not less fifty thousand (Php 50,000.00) but not more than five
hundred thousand (Php 500,000.00) or both upon the discretion of the court:
Provided, however, that if the violator is a corporation, firm, partnership or

16


association, the penalty shall be imposed upon the president or the manager or any
Officer thereof who knows or ought to have known the commission of the offense.

SECTION 26. Transitory Provisions. - The transfer of functions, assets, funds,
equipment, properties, transactions, and personnel of the affected agency, and the
formulation of the internal organic structure, staffing pattern, operating system, and
revised budget of NMIPhil, shall be completed within six (6) months from the
effectivity of this Act, during which time, the existing personnel shall continue to
assume their posts in holdover capacities until new appointments are issued.

Provided, That after the transformation of National Metrology Division as specified in
Section 6 of this Act, the DOST, in coordination with the DBM, shall determine and
create new positions.

SECTION 27. Appropriations. - The amount necessary to carry out the provisions
of this Act shall be included in the General Appropriations Act for the year following
its enactment and every year thereafter.

In addition to the GAA, eighty percent (80%) of the fees and charges collected by the
NMIPhil, NMB Secretariat and the DOST Regional Offices from metrology-related
works including calibration and measurement services, technical trainings, and
proficiency testing services shall be retained and correspondingly used by the
NMIPhil and DOST Regional Offices in the upkeep and modernization of
measurement standards and facilities, purchase of measurement standards and
equipment, promotion of metrology culture, awareness raising programs and
advocacy campaigns, among others. The remaining amount shall be remitted to the
National Treasury.

SECTION 28. Implementing Rules And Regulations. — The DOST in coordination
with other concerned government departments, agencies and representatives
mentioned in Section 9 hereof shall within one hundred eighty (180) days from the
effectivity of this Act issue the necessary implementing rules and regulations of this
Act.


SECTION 29. Separability Clause. - Should any provision herein be declared
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity of the other provisions of this
Act.

SECTION 30. Repealing Clause. - All laws, decrees, orders, rules, and regulations
or other issuances or parts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed, amended, or modified accordingly.

SECTION 31. Effectivity Clause. - This Act shall take effect in fifteen (15) days

after publication in the Official Gazette or in one (1) newspaper of general circulation
in the Philippines.

Approved,