DTI holds 1st Packaging and Labeling Summit for MSMEs’
Business Mirror
October 12, 2016
THE Department of Trade and Industry, through the Export Marketing Bureau (DTI-EMB), held the first Philippine Packaging and Labeling Summit under the Philippine Export Competitiveness Program (PECP), with a theme dubbed as “Enhancing Competitiveness through Packaging Innovation and Labeling Standards Compliance,” on September 29 at the Philippine Trade Training Center, Pasay City.
Participated in by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and experts in the field of packaging, the event served as a pilot program that offered exporters and would-be exporters the knowledge and awareness on current global trends in packaging and labeling.
The 2016 Business Survey of the International Trade Center (ITC) on nontariff measures (NTMs) in the Philippines showed that close to three-quarters of exporters and importers in the Philippines suffer from nontariff measures.
The report said almost 60 percent of exporters’ NTM-related obstacles come from product-specific measures, such as conformity assessments (29 percent) and technical requirements (27 percent). Technical requirements include packaging and labeling.
DTI-EMB Director Senen M. Perlada said during the summit that DTI-EMB is extending its support in order to address these NTMs.
“We wish to help these exporters to maximize all available opportunities offered by our initiatives in addressing such obstacles. We also urge them to maximize their markets through our FTAs [free-trade agreements],” Perlada said.
Perlada also urged entrepreneurs present during the event to continue maximizing the growing numbers of Internet users worldwide by including e-commerce in their business models.
“The availability of the internet makes it easier for exporters and entrepreneurs to become closer to their consumers. Packaging and labeling serve as our products’ spokesman to our consumers, we need to make sure that they respond to the trend and technical requirements,” Perlada emphasized.
Resource speakers from different offices covering topics, such as Philippine labeling standards; packaging trends and requirements for large markets, such as European Union (EU), the United States (US), Japan, and specific products, such as halal, cosmetics and food products, discussed relevant information to the attendees of the summit.
Also present during the event were experts from the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Drug Administration, Food Development Council, Packaging Institute of the Philippines, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines and other concerned agencies.□
Kate Bondoc, Commercial Attaché, Trade Service Officer, Philippine Trade and Investment Center-Dubai