On November 13, 2015, President Aquino approved Republic Act № 10697, “An Act Preventing the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction by Managing the Trade in Strategic Goods, the Provisions of Related Services, and for Other Purposes.” The legislation requires the State to manage the trade of strategic goods and provision of related services in accordance with international standards and best practices. The Act applies to any person operating within the Philippines who engages or intends to engage in the export of strategic goods from the Philippines, including designated special economic and freeport zones, the import of strategic goods into the Philippines; or the transit or transshipment of strategic goods through the territory of the Philippines and the provision of related services; and all Filipino persons providing these services wherever located; and the re-export of strategic goods that have been imported from the Philippines to a foreign country, and the reassignment of strategic goods imported from the Philippines to a new end-user in the country of import subject to authorization under this Act.
The law requires the establishment of a National Strategic Goods List (NSGL) to describe with specificity the strategic goods subject to authorization. The NSGL will be comprised of three (3) annexes: Military Goods (Annex 1), Dual Use Goods (Annex 2), and Nationally Controlled Goods (Annex 3).
The Act creates a permanent committee under the National Security Council (NSC), to be known as the NSC-Strategic Trade Management Committee (NSC-STMCom), which will be the central authority on any and all matters relating to strategic trade management. It consists of the Executive Secretary; the Secretary of Trade and Industry; the Secretary of Foreign Affairs; the Secretary of Justice; the Secretary of National Defense; the Secretary of the Interior and Local Government; the Secretary of Finance; the Secretary of Transportation and Communications; the National Security Advisor; the Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources; the Secretary of Science and Technology; the Secretary of Agriculture; and the Secretary of Health; as Members. The Anti-Terrorism Council (ATC) – Program Management Center (PMC) shall serve as the Secretariat. The NSC-STMCom will be supported and complemented by a number of bureaus and agencies, including the Bureau of Customs, Philippine Coast Guard, FDA, etc.
The Strategic Trade Management Office (STMO) (located in the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)) will be responsible for the issuance of individual, global or general licenses for the export, import, re-export, reassignment, transit, or transshipment of strategic goods and provision of related services, subject to policies established by the NSC-STMCom, which will also review and decide appeals on decisions made by the STMO. The Act also establishes extensive recordkeeping and registration requirements. Violations of the Act are punishable by imprisonment for a period from six (6) months and one (1) day to six (6) years imprisonment, and a fine from one hundred thousand pesos (P 100,000.00) to one million pesos (P1,000,000.00).
