The Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing Association of the Philippines (MVPMAP) has asked trade negotiators to seek a flexible four-year period within which to comply with new global health and safety regulations that the government may decide to accept.

MVPMAP officials presented their stand during a consultative meeting with the country's trade negotiating team before the resumption of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) talks on non-tariff and technical barriers to trade covering the electronics and machine parts sectors.

They told trade negotiators led by Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa that they need two years upon notification by the government that the country is adopting a new WTO sanctioned standard, and another two years after the compliance is published and become binding.

MVPMAP also invoked the flexibility provisions for developing countries as basis for the flexible compliance to new standards.

The four-year grace period for compliance will give them ample time to raise the money needed to adopt state-of-the-art technologies.

MVPMAP officials also explained that meeting new safety, health and environment rules requires the development of new technologies and will cost big investments like the standards now in place in Europe.

They also informed the negotiators that the Philippines is sorely lacking in testing facilities particularly on the quality of automotive products made in the country which is zero.

Local auto parts makers need to get their individual products certified by globally recognized testing centers abroad to be able to put warranties on the durability of certain products.

The big manufacturers may not get hurt, it was further explained, but the small and medium enterprises that supply only specialized automotive parts, will be the losers if the flexibility of compliance is not hammered out during the on going negotiations.

It was noted during the meeting that because of increasing global awareness on the impact of aging technologies on the environment, especially climate change, more stringent health, safety and environmental standards are being built specially in the West.

The lack of product testing facilities in the country has also been raised by the food sector the other week as they try to comply with a new food safety law in the United States that is due to take effect by January 1 next year.

All the affected export industry to these emergent rules have expressed fears that the lack of infrastructure services which government regulators like the Bureau of Product Standards, the Bureau of Food and Drugs recently renamed Food and Drugs Administration, and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources should have prepared for, may turn out to be the non-tariff barriers to trade that the WTO has been trying to tear down.