United Kingdom Ambassador to the Philippines Laure Beaufils is looking forward to a stronger bilateral cooperation with the Philippines as the Developing Countries Trading Scheme comes to force in the first quarter of 2023.
UK’s DCTS is its version of a preferential trading scheme, akin to the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) of European Union.
Beaufils said in a forum hosted by the British Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Tuesday the Philippines-UK trade might hit new heights as bilateral trade rose to ￡2.1 billion in 2022.
She said the UK would continue to work with the Department of Trade and Industry to promote the DCTS scheme.
Under the DCTS, the Philippines will be eligible for duty-free access for over 99 percent of total exported goods to the UK, saving around P1.4 billion in tariffs each year.
The scheme will boost bilateral trade and provide new opportunities for Filipino and British businesses, reciprocally, she said.
The Philippines will continue to benefit from duty-free exports to the UK on more than 80 percent of eligible products.
The DCTS will also remove tariffs on over 150 additional products. The DCTS will simplify some seasonal tariffs, meaning additional and simpler access for the Philippines’ exports to the UK.
The scheme offers generous rules of origin, making it easier to produce goods using components from other countries without losing duty-free status.
It will be one of the most generous sets of trading preferences of any country in the world, helping to grow trade, boost jobs and drive economic growth, the British Chamber said.
The DCTS benefits 65 developing countries and is more generous and simpler than the existing UK GSP+. It covers 37 countries in Africa, 18 in Asia, 8 in Oceania and 2 in the Americas.
The scheme includes zero tariffs on almost ￡4.5 billion of imports of clothing and apparel, ￡300m of foodstuffs and millions of pounds worth of other consumer products such as bicycles and children’s toys.