It was owing to concerted efforts by the MoIT and concerned units to gather evidence and construct arguments against complaints from Philippine producers based on domestic laws and interpretation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreements.
The MoIT has also updated the Vietnam Plastics Association and concerned Vietnamese manufacturers on the Philippines investigation.
The final decision was based on the Philippine Tariff Commission’s investigation report which concluded that there was no increase in imports of LLDPE pellets and granules, both in absolute terms and relative to domestic production, during the period of investigation from 2015 to June 2021, according to a statement released by the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
“Since it has been established that LLDPE pellets and granules were not imported in increased quantities during the period of investigation, the determination of serious injury or threat thereof, causation, and unforeseen developments has become moot and academic,” the statement said.
Considering that, the commission terminated its formal investigation and recommended that no definitive general safeguard measure be imposed on importations of the products.
Previously, the DTI launched a safeguard investigation on high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and LLDPE pellets and granules imported from various countries, including Vietnam.
