Clearance fees for imported sugar alternatives take effect February 1

MANILA, Philippines — Imported sugar alternatives and other sugar-based products must secure and pay a clearance fee from the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) beginning February before being allowed to be released in the market.

SRA administrator and CEO Pablo Luis Azcona told The STAR that Sugar Order (SO) 6 will take effect on Feb. 1, a month after it was filed at the Office of the National Registrar (ONAR) at the UP Law Center.

The SO was filed by the SRA at the ONAR last Jan. 2. The order outlined the imposition of import clearance fees on sugar alternatives and sugar-based items under tariff headings 1701, 1702 and 1704.

Commodities belonging to 1701 include sucrose, specialty sugar, flavored syrup while those under 1702 include so-called “other sugars” like lactose, glucose, maltose, maple syrup, honey and caramel.

Goods under tariff heading 1704 are sugar confectionery items such as chewing gum and white chocolate not containing cocoa.

The measure is intended to capture the volume of imported sugar alternatives and sugar-based products that enter the country after various quarters clamored for such regulatory policy as they claimed that these items displace the use of locally produced sugar.

The SRA board, the highest policy-making body of the SRA, has set the clearance fee at P3 per 50-kilogram bag or P60 per metric tons, significantly lower than its initial proposal of P10 per bag or P200 per MT.

Importers are given six months beginning Feb. 1 to comply with its stipulated rules. After which, erring importers would face sanctions and penalties.

Once the SO takes effect, Azcona said, the importers of the concerned products would be asked by the Bureau of Customs to show a secured import clearance from the SRA before their shipments would be allowed to enter the country.