MANILA, Philippines--Fearing an uneven playing field come January, industry leader Petron Corp. is asking the government to exclude or suspend the inclusion of crude oil and petroleum products from the list of products to be slapped a zero tariff under the Asean Free Trade Agreement.

Apart from seeking the exclusion or suspension of crude oil and petroleum products from the coverage of the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga) and the Asean-Korea Free Trade Area (AKFTA), the oil firm also asked for the reduction of the Most Favored Nation (MFN) duty on crude oil and petroleum product imports from 3 percent to zero.

Petron filed the petition with the Tariff Commission.

?The impact on the downstream oil industry of the full implementation of the zero rate of duty under the Afta-Common Effective Preferential Tariff in January 2010 and Korea?s implementation of the zero rate of duty on goods traded under the (AKFTA) between 2010 and 2012 prompted [Petron] to file the petition,? the Tariff Commission said in a statement.

With crude oil and petroleum products included in the coverage of the Afta-CEPT and AKFTA, imports from within the region and Korea would be slapped with no levies.

This meant Petron?s competitors, some of them multinationals with regional import hubs, could opt to source their supply requirements from within the region and Korea, giving them the chance to take advantage of zero tariffs.

Petron?s imports from outside the region, on the other hand, would continue to be slapped a 3-percent duty.

If crude oil and petroleum products could not be exempted from the Afta-CEPT and AKFTA list, Petron said it could still attain a level playing field if the MFN rate were to be brought down to zero from the current 3 percent.

Should the government heed this petition, Petron?s imports from outside the region and Korea would have zero duties as well. Abigail L. Ho