8 hours Ago By N/A (Dexter Barro II)
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has flagged the overlapping regulatory functions of the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Department of Health (DOH) as a barrier that could dissuade American exporters from entering the Philippine market. In its latest Food and Agriculture Import Regulations and Standards (FAIRS) Country Report Annual, dated April 29, the USDA said that the regulations imposed on agricultural goods by the DA and the DOH still overlap despite the clear delineation of responsibilities. The USDA report was published just as Philippine trade and economic officials are in Washington, D.
C. this week to negotiate with their US counterparts on the 17-percent reciprocal tariff to be imposed on American imports from the Philippines. Trade Secretary Cristina Roque earlier said the Philippines is open to concessions, including easier entry of some US agricultural exports, to lower the impending tariff.
The report cited Republic Act (RA) No. 10611, or the Food Safety Act, which explicitly defines the responsibilities of the two agencies in the country’s food regulatory system. The law states that the DA is responsible for the development and enforcement of food safety standards, regulations for foods in the primary production, and post-harvest stages of the food supply chain.
Specifically, the DA enforces its role in regulating food through its attached agencies such as the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS), Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), National Dairy Authority (NDA), Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), and Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA). Meanwhile, the DOH is tasked with ensuring the safety of all food processing and product packaging activities through its regulatory agency, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The USDA pointed out that there are still “instances” where the functions of both agencies overlap, which causes “confusion especially among exporters interested in entering the Philippine market.
” While the USDA did not specify these overlapping functions, the DA had previously raised before the Office of the President (OP) the need to transfer the regulation of food items to the agency. In 2023, the late Agriculture Undersecretary Deogracias Victor Savellano said the DA wanted to seize control of regulations over livestock and poultry products in order to expedite the approval of permits, which the FDA was found to be inefficient with. The DA has cited the delineation of responsibilities as one of the reasons behind the delay in the commercial rollout of Vietnam-made African swine fever (ASF) vaccines.
Under the law, the DA oversees the testing and evaluation of vaccines, but the registration falls under the DOH through the FDA. Furthermore, the USDA pointed out that certain policies of the Philippines remain restrictive, particularly those that limit imports of rice, corn, poultry, pork, and fishery products. “For instance, the Philippine DA occasionally deviates from existing regulations and employs sanitary and phytosanitary measures to control the volume and timing of import arrivals,” the report read.
“These practices seek to protect domestic producers from competition,” it added. For example, the DA has been implementing a minimum access volume (MAV) on imported pork to allow its entry at a lower tariff rate, but with a strict quota attached. The USDA also noted that exporters must be wary of compliance with food quality and relevant documentation, given that non-compliant goods “may be required to be treated before being released or they may be ordered destroyed/disposed of outside the Philippines.
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