The Tariff Commission (TC) has thumbed down an industry proposal to impose safeguard measures on imports of corrugating medium paper, citing insufficient evidence that rising imports were harming local producers.

In a summary report posted on its website, the TC said it has concluded its months-long investigation into the proposed safeguard measures and submitted its final report to the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Jan. 29.

The commission launched its probe in August last year to determine the merits of imposing definitive duties against corrugating medium following the DTI’s request to initiate an investigation.

The DTI ruled that a provisional safeguard duty of ₱3,438 per metric ton (MT) on imports of corrugating medium will be imposed while the case is under formal investigation by the TC.

The measure was officially implemented in October last year after the Bureau of Customs (BOC) issued the corresponding Customs Memorandum Circular, which remains in effect for 200 days.

The DTI was prompted to levy a duty against imports of corrugating medium after it found a “causal link” between the increased imports of the product and serious injury to the domestic industry.

Made from recycled paper, corrugating medium is the paperboard component used to produce corrugated fiberboard, the material commonly used for packaging products such as cardboard boxes.

In its report, the TC said it found that corrugating medium was being imported to the country in increased quantities, both in absolute terms and relative to domestic production, beginning in 2023.

“The increase in the volume of imports was recent, sudden, sharp, and significant,” the commission said, supporting the DTI’s initial findings.

However, the TC determined that available industry-wide data on all relevant injury factors are insufficient to make a positive determination on serious injury to the local industry.

“In the absence of a positive determination of serious injury or threat thereof, the causal relationship between increased imports of recycled corrugating medium and serious injury or threat thereof to the domestic industry can neither be established,” it said.

In addition, the TC said the output of recycled corrugating medium by the petitioners of the proposal “[does] not constitute a major proportion of the domestic production” of the product.

It noted that locally produced corrugating medium is a “like product” to the imported variety.

The petitioners of the definitive safeguard measure are represented by The Pulp and Paper Manufacturers Association of the Philippines and two of its members, United Pulp and Paper Co. Inc. and Bataan 2020 Inc.

Considering that not all the elements for the imposition of a definitive safeguard duty were met, the TC said it recommends that no definitive general safeguard measure be imposed.

Under Republic Act (RA) No. 8800 or the Safeguard Measures Act, the government imposes safeguard measures to give relief to domestic industries suffering from serious injury as a result of increased imports.