MANILA, Philippines - Tariffs on goods traded outside preferential agreements will be up for review starting next month as the order which imposed the current duties will expire by the end of the year.

The review will culminate in an updated tariff structure for 2011-2015 that will hopefully provide additional support to industries facing new opportunities and threats following the economic downturn, public and private sector leaders said.

It will kick off with a public consultation scheduled for February 8-12 at the Tariff Commission, roughly 10 months before a replacement to Executive Order 574 must be issued.

"The outcome of the public hearing is a Tariff Commission recommendation which will be subjected to [interagency] Tariff and Related Matters committee deliberation. The output will be a new executive order," Tariff Commission Chairman Edgardo C. Abon said in a telephone interview.

"What we have in mind is to spell out the tariff structure over the next four years to assist businesses in their strategic plans," Mr. Abon added.

"We would like to note the positions of the economic sectors with respect to the issues they are facing, brought about by the crisis, and matters which they see as opportunities."

In the last review held in 2006, 96% of the tariff lines were maintained, according to earlier reports. The rest were reduced -- those for paper products, digital cameras, and compressed natural gas vehicles, for instance -- or increased as was the case for completely knocked-down vehicles.

The Philippines has room to raise duties as ceiling it committed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) is an average of 30.1%. The actual applied average in 2009 was just 7.07%, according to Tariff Commission data.

A decision, Mr. Abon said, will likely be reached only during the second semester, in time with the entry of a new administration after the May national elections.

The tariff structure may also have to reflect a new WTO commitment if the Doha round of trade talks is concluded by 2010.

Sought for comment, an industry group said tariffs might need to be raised for certain imports to protect some industries.

"We hope the process will be open to increases for certain sensitive sectors," Mario Jose E. Sereno, the Federation of Philippine Industries’ international trade policy committee head, said in a phone interview yesterday.

"And hopefully we can recalibrate and the government can regain [tax] revenues we lost. We have a lot of room to increase rates anyway," he added.

An advocacy group, the Fair Trade Alliance, said the government must also look at a development framework and see how previous market liberalization had affected the economy.

"The review is welcome but first things first: What is the Philippines’ development framework? And to determine that, you have to first study what has the Philippine experience of liberalization been," Fair Trade Alliance convenor Rene E. Ofreneo said in a separate telephone interview.

"Tariffs are just an instrument. What is the overall framework we should use?" Mr. Ofreneo said, adding that the new policy should address an alleged rise in smuggling and the erosion of the agriculture industry.