The Board of Investments has come up with the final draft of the implementing rules and regulations of the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy program up for signing by Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo.
BoI executive director Corazon Halili-Dichosa said the IRR was submitted to Domingo a week before the culminating week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in the Philippines.
“But there were holidays and the secretary went to Kuala Lumpur and now he’s back. We have no confirmation if the IRR was actually signed,” she said.
She said though that she was not aware of a final joint administrative order
“If it is done just like the IRR, it will have to undergo legal scrubbing. It needs to pass the legal department to guide the secretary if the final copy is okay with him,” she said.
Meanwhile, Halili-Dichosa was still waiting for instructions whether the IRR her group drafted needed further refinement.
She said she could not reveal yet the important features of the IRR until the copy was presented to the industry.
Car companies like Toyota Motor Philippines Corp., Mitsubishi Motor Philippines and Isuzu Philippines Corp. are eagerly awaiting the release of the guidelines in the hope that their expectations will be met.
The CARS program will give three car manufacturers the proper set of incentives to help increase vehicle production in the country. Each company will be required to produce at least 200,000 units within six years.
However, an automotive company can avail of the fiscal incentives once it reaches its 101,000th unit.
The program offers P27 billion worth of limited and performance-based fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to support new investments in new parts making operations and encourage large scale vehicle assembly.