R.A. 426

REPUBLIC ACT No. 426

AN ACT TO REGULATE IMPORTS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
(Repealed By Republic Act No. 650)

Section 1. As used in this Act:

Section 2. There is hereby created an Import Control Board composed of three members who shall be appointed by the President of the Philippines with the consent of the Commission on Appointments and shall hold office for two years, one of whom shall be designated as Chairman by the President. One member shall represent the Central Bank; one, the businessmen; and one, the consumers: Provided, That with the exception of the member representing the Central Bank, no other member shall be connected with the Government or any of its agencies, instrumentalities or corporations owned or controlled by it.

The two members of the Board not representing the Central Bank shall each receive a per diem compensation at the rate of twenty-five pesos for every meeting attended, but the total of which per diems for the whole year shall not exceed six thousand pesos for each member.

Section 3. The Import Control Board shall:

Section 4. In order to provide for the proper administrative machinery in carrying out the policies, rulings, orders or opinions of the Import Control Board as well as the provisions of this Act, there is hereby created the Import Control Administration whose chief shall be known as Commissioner and who shall have the following powers:

Section 5. Any person desiring to import any article, goods or commodities into the Philippines shall file an application for a corresponding quota allocation and license with the Import Control Administration. For old importers, the application shall be executed under oath and shall contain, among others, their name, address, nationality, stock on hand of the goods applied, the amount of their importation in the years nineteen forty-six, nineteen forty-seven and nineteen forty-eight of the articles, goods or commodities applied for; and if a new importer, his application shall contain a statement of his actual financial resources to finance the importation of the goods applied for.

Section 6. No person, corporation or association shall import any article, goods or commodity into the Philippines without a proper import license issued for said purpose in accordance with this Act. Any importation or order to import any articles, goods or commodities under control under the old Import Control Law between April thirty, nineteen fifty and the date of the approval of this Act shall be considered illegal unless such order or importation was duly approved by the Import Control Board.

Section 7. Import quotas shall be fixed by the Import Control Board in accordance with the following schedule of percentages:

Section 8. The following imports shall be admitted without import quota allocation:

Section 9. No item of import not enumerated in the appendices of this Act shall be allowed an import license and exchange cover in excess of its imports value (C.I.F.) for the year nineteen hundred forty-eight except agricultural machineries and equipment and other machinery, materials and equipment for dollar-producing and dollar- saving industries.

Section 10. For the purpose of fixing the import quota for each article, goods or commodity, the average annual C.I.F. value thereof for the year nineteen hundred forty-six, nineteen hundred forty-seven and nineteen hundred forty-eight shall be used as basis.

Section 11. Within thirty days after the Import Control Board as herein provided shall have fixed the import quota for each item of import, any importer desiring to import any such item may file an application with the Commissioner for an allocation of a portion of said import quota. Any ruling or resolution of the Import Control Board as provided in Republic Act Numbered Three hundred thirty to the contrary notwithstanding, the applicants may file their application within forty-five days after the approval of this Act.

Section 12. The portion of the import quotas available for old importers shall be allocated by the Commissioner among them in proportion to the annual average amount of their importation of the articles and on the evidence of the sales tax actually paid by them corresponding to the years nineteen hundred forty-six, nineteen hundred forty-seven and nineteen hundred forty-eight. The importer's tax receipts corresponding to any particular article, goods or commodity being certification under oath and other documentary evidence shall be used as the principal basis for determining the value of the previous imports of such importers: Provided, That no importer shall be allowed more than thirty per centum of the total import quota for any item except when such limitation may, in the opinion of the Import Control Board, be detrimental to public interest. Allocation for importers who imported during a fraction only of the year nineteen hundred forty-six, nineteen hundred forty-seven and/or nineteen hundred forty-eight shall be computed on the basis of the ratio which said fraction of the year bears to the whole year.

Section 13. In determining the allocation of import quota among old and new importers, all Government agencies importing any particular article, goods or commodity shall be included and considered as private importers and in such cases the value of their respective imports may be based on documentary evidence other than tax receipts.

Section 14. The Board shall reserve thirty per centum of the total import quota for any articles, goods or commodities for the fiscal year nineteen hundred fifty and nineteen hundred fifty-one, forty per centum for the fiscal year nineteen hundred fifty-one and nineteen hundred fifty-two, and fifty per centum for the fiscal year nineteen hundred fifty-two and nineteen hundred fifty-three in favor of bona fide new importers who did not import such items at any time during the years nineteen hundred forty-six, nineteen hundred forty-seven and nineteen hundred forty-eight. To qualify as new importer, one must be a Filipino citizen or a juridical entity at least sixty per centum of whose stock is owned by Filipino citizens. After the total number of new importers has been determined, the portion of the import quota herein reserved shall be allocated proportionately among them on the basis of financial capacity and business standing of the applicant: Provided, That said applicant has been duly licensed to engage in a business and industry and has an established place of business or cooperative association organized under Commonwealth Act Numbered Five hundred sixty-five known as the National Cooperative Act. Should there be no such new applicants or should the said reserve portion be not entirely covered by new applicants, the said reserved portion of the import quota or any balance thereof shall be allocated among the rest of the importers: Provided, further, That nothing contained in this section shall in any way impair or abridge the rights granted to citizens and juridical entities of the United States of America under the Executive Agreement signed on July fourth, nineteen hundred forty-six, between that country and the Republic of the Philippines.

Section 15. Any existing law, executive order or regulation to the contrary notwithstanding, no Government, office, agency, or instrumentality, except the Import Control Commissioner, shall allocate the import quota among the various importers: Provided, That the Philippine Rehabilitation and Trade Relief Administration shall have exclusive power and authority to determine and regulate the allocation of wheat flour, among importers.

Quota allocations of any importer for any particular article, including wheat flour, shall not be transferable. It shall be illegal to cede, transfer, sell, rent, lease or donate, his or its import quota allocation or license, either directly or indirectly or by use of any simulation, strategy or scheme, to persons or entities not entitled to import quota under the provisions of this Act, and any violation thereof shall be punishable with the forfeiture by the Commissioner of the import quota or license of the erring party without prejudice to his subjection to the penal provisions of this Act.

Section 16. If the Commissioner, after a thorough investigation is satisfied that an application for quota allocation or license is in order and that the applicant has complied with all the requirements provided in this Act and the rules and regulations issued thereunder, he shall approve it and issue the corresponding import license: Provided, however, That no application shall remain pending in the office of the Import Control Administration for a period longer than sixty days, otherwise, the Commissioner shall be made to account to the Import Control Board for the delay, and failure to give satisfactory explanation shall be ground for dismissal or any other appropriate administrative action. Applications for quota allocations shall be numbered correlatively, based on the chronological order of their filing showing the date and hour each application was filed. No application shall be acted upon unless action has been taken upon other applications previously filed thereto. Applications for quota allocations shall be stamped with the date and hour when it was filed and a corresponding receipt shall be issued to the applicant thereof showing the number of the application, the date and hour of filing, pursuant to the provisions of this section: Provided, moreover, That all import quota allocations and licenses pending at the time of the approval of this Act shall be considered new applications in the light of the provisions of this section.

Section 17. The Monetary Board of the Central Bank shall certify to the Import Control Board from time to time the amount of exchange available for any specified period for import purposes. The Commissioner shall not issue any import license when the value involved in such importation exceeds the balance of the total foreign exchange available for that period as certified to by the Central Bank.

Section 18. Upon presentation of an import license duly issued by the Commissioner, the Central Bank shall issue to the holder thereof the corresponding exchange cover.

Section 19. When the foreign exchange available cannot cover all the applications for importation, the Import Control Board shall reduce proportionately the foreign exchange available among the import license holders.

Section 20. Any violation of the provisions of this Act or any rules and regulations issued thereunder shall be punished by a fine of not less than five thousand pesos nor more than fifty thousand pesos, or by imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than five years, or by both, such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the Court: Provided, That in the case of aliens, the penalty shall consist of payment of fine and immediate deportation without the necessity of any further proceedings on the part of the Deportation Board: Provided, further, That if the violation is committed by the manager, representative, director, agent or employee of any natural or juridical person in the interest of the latter such violation shall render said natural or juridical person amenable to the penalties corresponding to the offense, without prejudice to the imposition of the proper penalty, either personal or pecuniary, or both, upon the manager, representative, director, agent, or employee: Provided, further, That any officer or employee of the Import Control Board and Import Control Administration violating any provision of this Act or rules and regulations issued in pursuance of this law shall be summarily dismissed without prejudice to the filing of criminal action against him: Provided, further, That juridical persons shall be amenable only to the fine penalty: Provided, further, That in case of any violation committed in the interest of a foreign juridical person duly licensed to engage in business in the Philippines by its manager, representative, director or agent, such violation shall be sufficient cause for the immediate revocation of such license: And provided, lastly, That articles, goods, or commodities imported in violation of this Act shall be subject to forfeiture in accordance with the procedure established in article eighteen, Chapter thirty-nine of the Revised Administrative Code, and under no circumstances or conditions may the goods be released to the importer thereof: Provided, finally, That any official or employee of the three aforementioned agencies who shall be found guilty of violating articles two hundred ten and two hundred eleven of the Revised Penal Code on bribery, shall suffer not only the penalties provided for in those two articles but also the penalties provided for under this section, and shall further suffer perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

Any importer who orders to import or imports any article, goods or commodity without first securing an import license therefor in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be disqualified to do business in the Philippines and his license shall be withdrawn by the Collector of Internal Revenue.

No member of the Import Control Board nor any officer of the Central Bank or the Import Control Administration shall directly or indirectly be financially interested in any importation business, nor shall he engage himself in the importation of goods subject to the restrictions provided for in this Act.

Any official or employee of the Import Control Board, or the Import Control Administration, or the Central Bank who aids any person or entity in the violation or circumvention of any of the provisions of this Act or of any rules or regulations issued thereunder shall, upon conviction, be subject to the same penalty hereinabove provided and be disqualified perpetually from holding any public office.

Section 21. The sum of seven hundred fifty thousand pesos annually, or so much thereof as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, and until Congress provides otherwise, is hereby appropriated out of any funds in the National Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to defray the expenses of the Import Control Board and the Import Control Administration.

Section 22. Any act or executive order, rules or regulations whose provisions are contrary to or in contravention with any provisions of this Act are hereby repealed. Any section or provision of this Act that may be declared unconstitutional by a competent court, shall not affect the remaining provisions thereof.

Section 23. The Import Control Board shall, as soon as possible and in no case exceeding sixty days, fix all the import quotas of all items of imports as provided for in this Act; meantime, all the existing quotas and allocations as well as rules and regulations on import control shall continue until revised or repealed, and the Members of the Import Control Board and the Import Control Commission shall remain in office until the President has appointed their successors.

Section 24. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

Approved: May 19, 1950

APPENDIX "A"
(Controlled Prime Imports)

APPENDIX "B"
(Controlled Essential Imports)