Philippines

• Labeling Requirements
• Required Documents
• Licensing
• Import Procedures
• Taxes/Tariffs
• Contacts

LABELING REQUIREMENTS

• Name of product
• List of ingredients used in product (in decreasing order of proportion), including additives, flavorings, and preservatives used
• Net content
• Name and address of manufacturer/packer or distributor, including country of origin for imported products and name and address of Philippine importer/distributor
• Lot identification

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REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

• License to Operate (obtained from BFAD – see below for licensing instructions)
• Certificate of Product Registration (obtained from BFAD – see below for licensing instructions)
• Phyto-Sanitary/Health Certificate (issued by the regulatory body in the country of origin)
• Certificate of Analysis
• Commercial Invoice
• Packing List

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LICENSING

The importer must obtain a License to Operate (LTO) from the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD).  This license lists the names of foreign suppliers or sources of the products being registered.  Therefore, the importer should obtain the following from the U.S. exporter:

• Copy of the Foreign Agency Agreement (authenticated by the Philippine Consulate in the country of origin)
• Certificate of Status of Manufacture by the exporter issued by the governmental health agency of the country of origin (this should also be authenticated by the Philippine Consulate as well)

These documents are to be submitted to BFAD, which will issue the LTO to the importer.

After having obtained the LTO, importers must also register the beverage alcohol product they intend to bring into the country with BFAD.  The list of requirements and/or documents required to register the product is below:

1. A letter of application for registration from importer/distributor
2. A valid License to Operate (LTO) as an importer/distributor (issued by BFAD)
3. Pertinent product information
4. List of ingredients (in decreasing order of proportion. For additives with prescribed limit, the amount added must be indicated)
5. Finished product specification (physical-chemical and microbiological)
6. Samples of the product in its commercial presentation for laboratory analysis
7. Label and labeling materials to be used for the products
8. Estimated shelf-life, parameters used and methods for determining shelf-life (if applicable)
9. Brief description/flow diagram of the method of manufacture
10. Certificate of analysis (include analytical methods used)
11. Payment of registration fee plus cost of laboratory analysis.

Please note that laboratory testing by BFAD is mandatory.

After having followed the above requirements, the importer will receive a Certificate of Product Registration (CPR), valid for 1 year. Subsequent renewals of a CPR are valid for 5 years.

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IMPORT PROCEDURES

All agricultural and food products entering the Philippines must be accompanied by a phyto-sanitary or health certificate (issued by the regulatory body in the exporting country) and should be submitted for inspection along with the import permit to facilitate physical inspection of the goods and customs clearance at the port of entry.  After payment of any applicable duties or taxes (i.e. import duty, value added tax (VAT), or ad valorem tax), goods may be declared by exporters or their authorized agents.  Exporters should do this by completing an Export Declaration (ED) form which can be obtained from any Authorized Agent Bank (AAB) of the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BPS).

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TAXES/TARIFFS

For the most current tariffs and taxes applied to imported products for this country, please visit the Online Tariff Database provided by Tariffic at: http://www.tariffic.com/ITA/, and click on “On-The-Fly Tariffeed”.  Please ensure you have a 10-digit HS classification code in order to obtain tariff information.  Also see the Census Bureau’s Schedule B search function (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/schedules/b/index.html), which allows you to classify your product according to United States export codes. Simply click "Search" and enter the keyword (i.e. beer) that best describes your product.

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CONTACTS

Most of the information in this guide was obtained from direct contact with various governmental organizations and embassies, as well as online sources.  The FAS Attaché reports at: http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/attacherep/default.asp served as the primary (online) sources used for this report.

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