GMA asks Congress to ban used car imports

The Philippine Star 05/02/2005

President Arroyo asked Congress yesterday to pass a law banning imports of used passenger cars.

The government has been pushing for a ban on safety and health grounds, as well as to protect local assemblers.

Mrs. Arroyo told union leaders in a Labor Day speech that she would ask Congress "to pass a law banning imports of second-hand cars, except trucks, buses and ambulances."

She noted that the government had previously tried to enforce a presidential order banning imports of used vehicles, but importers challenged the ban in the local courts.

For the meantime, the government is discouraging such imports by imposing a "surcharge" of import taxes, but Arroyo said this was only a temporary solution.

"The real solution is to pass a law," she added.

Motor vehicle sales rose 4.6 percent from a year earlier to 21,972 units in the three months to March, according to local industry associations, which complain that used-car imports are hurting sales of brand-new units.

They forecast total 2005 sales of 95,000 new vehicles, up eight percent from 2004. –