DOMESTIC manufacturers appealed to the government to stop its practice of placing imported raw materials under mandatory standards and import commodity clearance (ICC) certification, as this is only adding bureaucratic layer and undue burden to them.

The Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) said standards and ICC certification should be mandated only for imported finished products as these go directly to the market, while raw materials will still undergo further processing.

Case in point, FPI president Jesus Arranza said, is the cold reduced carbon steel sheet, which is being imported by domestic manufacturers of galvanized roofing products.

Arranza said the Filipino Galvanizers Institute (FGI) has expressed its concern over the crafting of implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for PNS 127:2004, which sets the standards for cold reduced carbon steel sheet for commercial and drawing qualities.

Arranza said FGI complained that due process was not properly observed when the IRR was crafted supposedly by a technical committee consisting of experts from galvanizers, users of flat steel products, and related government agencies and instrumentalities.

Department of Trade and Industry-Bureau of Product Standards (DTI-BPS) Director Victorio  Dimagiba reportedly issued a notice on October 9 calling the members of the technical committee to a meeting on October 14 at the agency’s conference room in Makati City. The notice was received by Puyat Steel and Galva Phils. but did not reach the offices of Union Galvasteel, Tower Steel and Sonic Steel Industries. Another notice was, however, circulated canceling this due to the need to focus on the DTI efforts to monitor prices.

However, FGI said BPS actually proceeded with the meeting but only representatives from Global Steel and Steelcorp were present. A representative of Sonic Steel, Bienvenido Dulce, managed to catch up with the discussions later in the day after FGI learned through telephone that the meeting pushed through.

Arranza also informed Favila that a representative of Union Galvasteel went to the BPS on October 9 to request for a copy of the draft IRR for PNS 127:2004 and was told that it is not ready yet.

“However, FGI was surprised that during the October 14 meeting, a draft copy of the IRR dated September 13, 2009, was distributed. FGI found it very strange that a reading copy of the draft was produced when it was never discussed by the technical committee members who were supposed to draft it,” Arranza added.

The BPS also reportedly failed to take into account the position paper submitted by FGI.

With these concerns, Arranza requested that the technical committee be reconvened to review the IRR and consider the FGI position, which the federation is also taking. He said there are still various issues that need to be resolved, including who will conduct the test, the procedure and manner of testing.

“There is probably just a misunderstanding between Director Dimagiba and the FGI and this will surely be resolved in a dialogue,” Arranza said.