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EO 12 s.2023, signed by President Marcos Jr. on 13 January 2023, set MFN tariff rates on completely-built-up (CBU) battery-electric passenger vehicles and select EV parts and components to 0% for five years (through 2028). The original schedule applied only to four-wheeled passenger BEVs and a narrow list of parts; ICE-mode hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and two/three-wheel EV form factors retained MFN rates of 5% (passenger cars) to 30% (motorcycles), preserving a tariff barrier that the Department of Energy and Department of Trade and Industry argued was inconsistent with the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI) and the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA, RA 11697).
The 15 May 2024 NEDA Board decision approves the Committee on Tariff and Related Matters' recommendation to extend the zero-MFN regime to:
(CKD) EV kits
The 0% rate runs through 2028, matching the EO 12 horizon. The Committee on Tariff and Related Matters (CTRM) is mandated to perform an annual review of the rates. The Bureau of Customs implements the modified schedule under the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA, RA 10863).
This is a trade-flow measure (a tariff preference, not a subsidy): the fiscal cost is borne via foregone import-duty revenue, and the intended pass-through is to lower retail prices, accelerate EV-fleet turnover, and attract foreign EV manufacturers to evaluate Philippine assembly under the EVIDA framework (which couples the tariff preference to a Registered Business Enterprise pathway under the CREATE / CREATE MORE regimes — see 2024-11-11-philippines-create-more-act-ra-12066.md).
(Geely Auto / Lynk), Chery, GAC, and Dongfeng have been the most active brands in the Philippine EV market post-EO 12; the expansion to HEVs and two/three-wheelers materially widens China's tariff-free export window. Korean (Hyundai, Kia) and Japanese (Toyota, Mitsubishi, Nissan) HEV/PHEV lineups also become tariff-advantaged versus their pure-ICE substitutes.
tariff expansion sits alongside CREATE MORE (RA 12066, Nov 2024) and the DOE DC2024-06-0018 Revised Omnibus Guidelines for RE Contracts (Jun 2024) as part of a 2024 sequence intended to position the Philippines as an alternative ASEAN EV-supply node to Thailand and Indonesia. Chinese OEMs evaluating Southeast-Asian assembly hubs now have an explicit duty-free CBU runway during the build-out period.
Philippine motor-vehicle imports (single-digit percentage as of 2024), but the expanded HEV scope captures a much larger slice of the ~PHP 200 bn / year motor-vehicle import flow given Toyota's dominant HEV mix.
June 2024) is the broader multi-year MFN tariff schedule; the EV-specific lines may have been codified in EO 62 or in a separate EV-focused EO. The NEDA decision is the operative policy event; the Bureau of Customs IRR sets the exact HS-line coverage.
EV industry association (EVAP) has lobbied for an extension to 2030 to align with the EVIDA targets.
is fully open (no local-content trigger), which is the opposite of Indonesia's hilirisasi model and could leave the Philippines as a pure import market unless EVIDA-tied incentives are paired with FTA / rules-of-origin discipline.