EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 372

WHEREAS, the government has embarked on the implementation of a 10-point agenda to uplift the economy.

WHEREAS, the government recognizes the need to develop the potential of the country’s globally-competitive service industries in order to generate employment and earn foreign exchange.

WHEREAS, the role of government is to provide an enabling environment for the private sector to invest in these service industries and thereby create the capacity and competitiveness for global markets.

WHEREAS, the government recognizes that developing these service industries requires a market-based, private sector driven approach;

WHEREAS, there is a need to create a mechanism to harness the synergy of the public and private sectors in order to formulate integrated master plans for the development of these service industries;

NOW, THEREFORE, I GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby order:…….

SECTION 1. Creation of a Public-Private Sector Task Force for the Development of Globally Competitive Philippine Service Industries. - There is hereby created the Public-Private Sector Task Force for the Development of Globally, Competitive Philippine Service Industries, hereinafter referred to as the Task Force.

SECTION 2. The nomenclature and the rates of import duty on tariff headings not enumerated and those listed but represented by the symbol ‘xxx" shall remain in force and in effect.

SECTION 3. Upon the effectivity of this Executive Order, all articles listed in Annex "A" hereof which are entered or withdrawn from warehouses in the Philippines for consumption shall be levied the MFN rates of duty therein prescribed.

SECTION 4. The Department of Trade and Industry, in coordination with the National Economic and Development Authority, the Department of Finance, the Tariff Commission and the Bureau of Customs, shall promulgate the implementing rules and regulations that will govern the implementation of this Executive Order.

SECTION 5. All Presidential issuances, administrative rules and regulations, or parts thereof, which are contrary to or inconsistent with this Executive Order are hereby revoked or modified accordingly.

SECTION 6. This Executive Order shall take effect immediatley following its complete publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in the Philippines.

Done in the City of Manila, this 22nd day of October, in the year of Our Lord, two thousand and four.

(Sgd.) GLORIA MACAPAGAL – ARROYO

By the President:

(Sgd.) EDUARDO R. ERMITA
Executive Secretary

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