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THE
Philippines has reached an agreement with Swiss
inspection services company SGS on the settlement of
receivables associated with pre-2002 discontinued
preshipment inspections contracts with the Bureau of
Customs.
In a
statement, SGS said the Philippine government will pay
it a total of 150 million Swiss francs, or about $147.6
million (P6.14 billion). Payment will be broken down in
two equal tranches between now and 2009, SGS said.
“I am
delighted that we could bring this matter to a fruitful
conclusion. We are now, finally, in a position to put
these matters behind us. For this, the board of
directors of SGS thanks the Government of the Republic
of the Philippines for their continuous, constructive
cooperation during the settlement process,” Sergio
Marchionne, chairman of SGS, said in a statement.
This
agreement between the two parties is registered as an
award of the International Center for the Settlement of
Investment Disputes, it added.
The
dispute stemmed from the shift in the valuation of
incoming cargo from home consumption value or export
value to transaction value for purposes of computing the
customs taxes and duties due on them were implemented
beginning on January 1, 2000. Customs valuation rules
determine the dutiable value of imported merchandise.
As a
result, the services of preshipment inspector such as
the Societé Generale de Surveillance was no longer
required with the new system in place. |
