Bill regulating e-vehicles lapses into law on April 15, 2022

A measure which aims to regulate and develop the electric vehicles (EVs) industry in the Philippines has lapsed into law after President Rodrigo Duterte did not act on it on time.

Republic Act No. 11697, the consolidated version of Senate Bill No. 1382 and House Bill No. 10213, or An Act Providing for the Development of Electric Vehicle Industry covers the “manufacture, assembly, importation, construction, installation, maintenance, trade and utilization, research and stations and related equipment, parts and components, batteries, and related support infrastructure.”

The measure also provides the creation of a Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI).

The CREVI shall contain the development of standards and specification of EVs and charging stations, industry promotion of EVs, assignment of designated parking slots for EVs, and construction or installation of charging stations in dedicated parking slots and dedicated spaces.

It shall also contain manufacturing standards for EVs, batteries and facilities including recycling facilities, parts and components, and charging stations, and charging stations and related equipment; research and development; as well as human resource development component which includes skills and capacity-building of needed personnel.

The CREVI shall be incorporated in the Philippine Energy Development Plan and the National Transport Policy.

Under the Constitution, a bill that is neither signed nor vetoed by the President will automatically lapse into law 30 days after it was forwarded by Congress.—LDF, GMA News