On April 22, 2023, the Philippine National Economic Development Authority approved the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership（RCEP）The tariff commitment is a milestone measure, and the approval of RCEP tariffs will promote changes in the Philippine economy.

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In 2012, the ten ASEAN countries launched the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), also known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. The agreement lasted for eight years and was formulated by the ten ASEAN countries, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. In November 2020, the ten ASEAN countries and fifteen countries in the Asia Pacific region officially signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, marking the official launch of the world's most populous, largest economic and trade scale, and most promising free trade area.

It is understood that RCEP mainly includes three aspects of content.

Firstly, in terms of trade in goods. RCEP stipulates the reduction or cancellation of tariffs and non-tariff barriers within the region, and over 90% of goods trade in terms of tariffs will ultimately achieve zero tariffs, mainly immediately reducing taxes to zero and reducing taxes to zero within ten years. In addition, RCEP has also determined to promote the implementation of unified rules such as rules of origin, customs procedures, inspection and quarantine, and technical standards in the field of goods trade, improving the level of liberalization and facilitation of goods trade within the region.

Secondly, in terms of service trade, RCEP requires the granting of national and most favored nation treatment to services and service providers. The negative list promises members to prohibit local existence clauses, while the positive list members determine further liberalization sectors. Seven member states, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia, have adopted negative list commitments, while the remaining eight member states, including China, have adopted positive list commitments and will convert them into negative lists within six years after the agreement takes effect.

Thirdly, in terms of investment, all 15 member states have adopted a negative list approach to make high-level open commitments to investment in five non service industries: manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and mining, greatly improving policy transparency among all parties.

In addition, RCEP has also made relatively comprehensive regulations on intellectual property, e-commerce, trade remedies, competition policy, and government procurement rules, which provide sufficient institutional guarantees for the operation of RCEP after its effectiveness.

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In January 2022, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) officially came into effect, with the first countries to enter into force including six ASEAN countries including Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and four non ASEAN countries including China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. Subsequently, RCEP came into effect for South Korea, Myanmar, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

In February of this year, the Philippines officially joined RCEP, and on April 22, the Philippine National Economic Development Agency approved RCEP's tariff commitments. This marks the full entry into force of RCEP for its 15 member states, and the world's largest free trade zone will enter a new stage of full implementation.

The Philippine Ministry of Trade stated that the administrative order approving RCEP tariffs will take effect on June 2, 2023, coinciding with the end of the 60 day period after the Philippines submits an RCEP application for approval. This administrative order will also serve as the basis for customs administrative orders, distributed to all ports of entry, and will implement preferential tariffs on imports from RCEP member countries.

It is understood that in the tariff administrative order approved by the Philippines, out of 1685 agricultural tax items, 1426 tax items will maintain zero tariffs, while 154 tax items will maintain the most favored nation tax rate and be excluded from all tariff preferences. By the 20th year of RCEP implementation, the agricultural product tariffs for 105 tax items in the "Sensitive and Highly Sensitive List" will be lower than the most favored nation tax rate.

Industry renowned economists have analyzed that the Philippines' formal accession to RCEP and approval of tariff administrative orders are not only beneficial for the Philippines' exports and imports, but also for the foreign trade of RCEP member countries, which is of great significance for the economic development of the Asia Pacific region.