RCEP: the third certificate most Filipino importers have never asked for

You may know Form E for China and Form D for ASEAN. There is a third route, it covers countries the other two do not, and almost nobody asks their supplier for it.

What RCEP actually is

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership is the trade agreement covering 15 countries: the 10 ASEAN states plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The Bureau of Customs implemented it for Philippine importers under Customs Memorandum Order No. 12-2023, effective 2 June 2023. Its stated goal is eliminating tariffs on at least 90% of goods traded between members.

The practical significance: RCEP is the only one of the three that reaches Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. If you import from Korea — a lane we run — ACFTA and ATIGA do nothing for you. RCEP might.

What you have to do

Same shape as Form E: a Certificate of Origin must accompany the goods, issued or declared by an exporter authorised in the origin country. Your customs broker files it with the entry. BOC’s Export Coordination Division scrutinises submitted certificates and can verify originating status — by requesting documents from the exporter or producer, or by inspecting their premises.

And the same hard rule applies as with Form E: ask your supplier before the goods ship. Retro-fitting a certificate of origin after arrival ranges from painful to impossible.

The clause worth knowing about

BOC states that where the RCEP preferential rate is higher than the rate applied at the time of importation, the importer may apply for a refund of excess duties and taxes paid on originating goods. Refunds are administrative work, and most small importers never pursue them — but the route exists, and for a repeat shipment it can be worth the paperwork.

Which certificate applies to you

China → Form E under ACFTA is usually the strongest, but compare — RCEP occasionally beats it on specific lines.
Vietnam and ASEAN → Form D under ATIGA.
Hong Kong → the ASEAN–Hong Kong FTA, which helps less often than people assume.
South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand → RCEP is your route.
Taiwan → none of them. Taiwan sits outside all of these, which is a real cost factor.

Where more than one applies, they are worth comparing rather than defaulting to the familiar one. Duty is not the whole picture either — work it through your landed cost before deciding where to source.

Related reading

• Form E: cut your China duty to zero
• Form D and ATIGA
• Shipping from Korea to the Philippines
• Philippine import duties and taxes