Europe and the Philippines share a long history of friendship and cooperation, with broad and expanding bilateral relationships in many key areas. This has resulted in the creation of jobs, development of expertise and technology transfer, generation of tax revenues, introduction of cutting-edge and new technology, as well as provision of many new goods and services to the benefit of consumers.

European companies are by and large happy to be in the Philippines and to be part of the Philippines’ success. Despite impressive statistics, however, we strongly believe that the current trade and investment relations are significantly below their real potential. Being the voice of European business in the Philippines, ECCP considers itself a direct stakeholder in the Philippines’ past, present and future. As such we are hopeful that the Philippines’ strategy towards regional integration and sustainable development will be successful. Recognizing the importance of an open trade regime for the shared benefits of businesses and consumers, we strongly support all efforts pursuing further trade and investment relations, especially active negotiations of an EU-Philippines Free Trade Agreement.

In order to strengthen European-Philippine economic relations towards a more competitive Philippines, ECCP wishes to highlight the importance of ease of doing business and the opportunities to compete in the context of free and fair competition on a level playing field. Our priorities are placed on enhancing transparency, improving efficiency, reforming certain sub-sectors and enabling an economic and regulatory environment, which are key factors to improving the trade and investment climate in the Philippines. For the country to reinforce its competitiveness, and its potential gateway to a vibrant ASEAN, the Philippines is encouraged to strive towards ‘raising the standards’ of its policy and regulatory framework in view of the intense competition and challenges of global dynamism.

Challenges exist in regard to the general perception of the policy and decision-making process, as well as the application of rules and regulations in the Philippines. Transparency, predictability and accepting the sanctity of contracts are regarded as the key foundations for a stable business environment in a modern economy. Calls have been made for enhanced predictability and avoidance of mid-stream policy changes, both in the policy/regulatory framework and the implementation/enforcement aspects in such key areas as customs, smuggling and ‘grey’ imports, removal and streamlining of redundant certification and testing procedures.

It is critically important to put in place an enabling economic and regulatory environment which fosters free and fair competition for both short and long term development. The establishment of an Office for Competition is a good step forward; we are looking forward for legislation covering competition policy and anti-trust. In this context, it is also essential to open up foreign ownership restrictions and make the ‘Foreign Investment Negative List’ less negative.

There are also key issues related to intellectual property rights; enforcement and prosecution remain challenges.

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The European business community stands ready to constructively engage in relevant consultations to achieve a mutually-beneficial outcome in the aforementioned trade/investment issues. We look forward to fostering even stronger economic relations for the benefit of both the Philippines and Europe. 

Source: The Freeman (The Philippine Star)