European chamber seeks easier requirements in F&B sector

CEBU, Philippines — Helping the Philippines recover from manufacturing slump, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) is pushing to improve regulatory requirements in the food and beverage (F&B) sector.

In its advocacy paper, the European business group called the government to streamline the business processes and remove any unnecessary bureaucracy that can deter potential investors and businesses from operating in the Philippines.

The paper emphasized the role of manufacturing to the country’s economic makeup.

It said while the Philippine government has made “great strides” in improving the ease of doing business, bottlenecks in terms of business facilitation remain.

For the food and beverage industry, the ECCP cited one of the long standing issues which is the long lead time in the issuance of permits, such as a license to operate (LTO) and certificate for product registration (CPR).

According to ECCP, in 2017 through mid-2019, it took companies at least three months to obtain LTO that they have to accomplish first before applying for CPR.

The process of using the e- registration for CPR usually lasts for more than four to six months.

“Most of F&B industry members share such challenges on operational delays in putting- up new or expanding businesses, losing opportunities to manufacture and export F&B to neighboring countries, which clearly impede the growth of the industry,” the ECCP said.

It said the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cited incomplete requirements and inconsistent entries from the F&B industry applicants, insufficient number of employees and infrastructure coupled with the increasing volume of registrations amid rising economic growth, as reasons for delays in the registration process.

In a bid to improve business facilitation, several FDA issuances were introduced, including the migration of LTO registrations to an online platform and the facilitation of e-registration of CPR for low-risk food products.

“While there have been positive developments and commendable initiatives in recent years, more work still needs to be done to ensure the efficiency of the operations in the F&B industry,” it added.

With these, the ECCP advocated for the amendment of FDA Circular No. 2016-007 which requires all food establishments to report all sources of raw materials used in the manufacturing of all prepackaged processed foods regardless of their respective risk classification.

It also pushed for the FDA to consider the “LTO listing approach” wherein raw materials need not secure individual CPR but make use of the LTO application route to register the raw materials that will be imported or distributed under the approved LTO.

The ECCP further underscored the importance of government agencies’ strict compliance with the provisions of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law to further address inefficiencies in applications, releasing of goods, among others.

“Specifically, the Chamber hopes that the prescribed 3-7-20 timeline rule of the EODB would be observed, ensuring that the License to Operate and Certificate for Product Registration will be processed within 20 working days,” it said.  JMD