Philippines could impose a maximum tariff rate of 400 percent on rice imports to give the government enough elbow room to balance the interest of farmers and consumers. The bound tariff rate of 400 percent was adopted by a technical working group (TWG) of the House Committee on Agriculture and Food and included in the draft of the substitute bill that would amend Republic Act (RA) 8178. RA 8178 allowed the government to regulate the entry of imported rice via the quantitative-restriction (QR) scheme.