Since January 1 this year, tariffs have started a new round of adjustment, and "zero tariff" has become a high-frequency word-
Implement zero tariffs on some anticancer drugs, medicines and raw materials for rare diseases; The provisional import tax rate of lithium chloride, cobalt carbonate and seed sweet corn was reduced to zero; China and Nicaragua immediately implement zero tariffs on products with about 60% of their respective tax items …
Experts said that in recent years, the overall tariff level in China has been continuously reduced, and more and more commodities have entered the "zero tariff era", which is not only conducive to enhancing the linkage effect of the two resources in the domestic and international markets, enhancing people’s livelihood and welfare, benefiting the development of enterprises, maintaining the stability and smoothness of the domestic industrial chain supply chain, but also conducive to promoting high-level opening up and allowing the world to share more opportunities for China’s development.
Imported goods—
The provisional tax rates for some anticancer drugs and resource commodities are adjusted to zero.
According to the latest tariff adjustment plan for 2024 (hereinafter referred to as the "plan"), from January 1st, China implemented a provisional import tariff rate lower than the MFN tariff rate for 1010 commodities.
After combing this plan, the reporter found that the provisional import tax rate of some drugs and raw materials was directly adjusted to zero, such as anticancer drugs for treating liver malignant tumors, raw materials for rare diseases for treating idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, and ipratropium bromide solution for drug inhalation which can be widely used in the treatment of childhood asthma diseases in clinic.
"The implementation of zero tariffs on some anticancer drugs, drugs and raw materials for rare diseases will help reduce the cost of drugs, reduce the burden of drugs for patients, especially cancer patients, and have more drug choices to further protect people’s lives and health." Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the International Trade and Economic Cooperation Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce, said that in fact, in recent years, medicine has been the key area of tax reduction, and the import tariffs on many anticancer drugs, rare diseases and related raw materials have been reduced to zero.
On May 1, 2018, China adjusted the import tariffs on some drugs and cancelled the import tariffs on 28 drugs, including many kinds of imported anticancer drugs. Relevant measures quickly took effect. In October of that year, 17 kinds of anticancer drugs were included in the medical insurance reimbursement catalogue, with an average decrease of 56.7% compared with the previous average retail price.
Since then, China has successively cancelled a number of import tariffs on drugs and raw materials: in 2019, the provisional import tax rate of anticancer drug raw materials such as oxaliplatin, carboplatin, nedaplatin and cisplatin was adjusted to zero; In 2020, zero tariffs will be imposed on drugs for treating asthma and raw materials for producing new diabetes drugs, such as Engelgin, Liggliptin and Vigliptin; In 2021, the second batch of raw materials for anticancer drugs and rare diseases will be subject to zero tariffs; In 2022, zero tariff will be imposed on radium chloride injection, a new anticancer drug.
It’s not just drugs that are listed as "zero tariffs". This plan also explicitly reduces the import tariffs on lithium chloride, cobalt carbonate, low arsenic fluorite, sweet corn, coriander, burdock seeds and other commodities, and the provisional import tax rate has reached zero. According to experts’ analysis, lithium chloride, cobalt carbonate and other commodities are key raw materials for the new energy automobile industry, and fluorite is an important mineral resource. The obvious reduction of import tariffs on these products will help enterprises to allocate resources on a global scale, reduce production costs and enhance the resilience of the industrial chain supply chain.
"This tariff reduction mentioned coriander, which is often said by everyone, which is a major positive for our company’s imports." Xu Minghui, deputy general manager of Shandong Golden Seed Agricultural Development Co., Ltd. said that the company imports about 300 tons of coriander seeds every year, which used to cost about one kilogram of 15 yuan. After reducing tariffs, the import cost alone can save more than 600,000 yuan a year, which will help enterprises achieve better development.
Free trade partner-
The number of products with mutually cancelled tariffs has gradually increased.
This tariff adjustment involves not only the provisional import tax rate, but also the agreed tax rate. Zero tariff is also one of the highlights.
On January 2nd, Hubei ushered in the first "Zero Tariff" certificate of China-Nicaragua Free Trade Agreement. On the same day, Wuchang Customs, which belongs to Wuhan Customs, issued a certificate of origin of China-Nicaragua FTA for Chibi Yayuan Trading Co., Ltd., and the textile fabric certificate exported by this enterprise to Nicaragua can enjoy a tariff reduction of about 18,000 yuan from the importing country.
Yu Yawen, head of Yayuan Company, said: "We are mainly engaged in textile fabric trade, and Nicaragua is one of the export destinations of the company. After learning that the tariff rate of textile fabrics exported to Nicaragua in 2024 can be reduced from the original 10% to zero, we handled the certificate of origin under the guidance of the customs and enjoyed this tariff dividend for the first time. "
On January 1st this year, the China-Nicaragua Free Trade Agreement came into effect. According to the agreement, the two sides will achieve high-level mutual opening in the fields of trade in goods, trade in services and investment market access. In terms of trade in goods, the two sides will eventually implement zero tariffs on products with their respective tax items exceeding 95%, of which products with immediate zero tariffs account for about 60% of their respective total tax items. This means that when Nicaraguan beef, shrimp, coffee, cocoa, jam and other products enter the China market, the tariff will gradually drop to zero; When Chinese-made cars, motorcycles, batteries, photovoltaic modules, clothing and textiles enter the Nigerian market, tariffs will also be gradually reduced and cancelled.
Ivan acosta, Minister of Finance and Public Credit of Nicaragua, said: "The free trade agreement signed with China is a great opportunity for Nicaragua. We believe that entering the huge market of China will enable us to develop rapidly."
In recent years, China’s free trade "circle of friends" has been expanding. Shortly after the signing of China-Nepal FTA, China and Serbia signed a FTA, which is the 22nd FTA signed by China, and Serbia became China’s 29th FTA partner.
According to the person in charge of the International Department of the Ministry of Commerce, the China-Serbia FTA focuses on making relevant arrangements for trade in goods, and the two sides will cancel tariffs on 90% of the tax items respectively, and more than 60% of the tax items will be cancelled immediately after the agreement comes into effect, and the final import volume ratio of zero-tariff tax items will reach about 95%. Serbia will include cars, photovoltaic modules, lithium batteries, communication equipment, mechanical equipment, refractories, some agricultural and aquatic products that China pays close attention to, and the tariffs on related products will be gradually reduced from the current 5%-20% to zero; China will include generators, motors, tires, beef, wine, nuts, etc., which are of great concern to Serbia, into zero tariffs, and the tariffs on related products will be gradually reduced from the current 5%-20% to zero.
The new signing has been accelerated, and there have been new changes in the implementation. This year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) entered its third year of implementation, and 15 RCEP member countries will further reduce tariffs on products such as light industry, automobiles, electronics and petrochemicals according to the commitments of the agreement, and further increase the products that are included in zero tariffs.
"Since the implementation of RCEP for two years, the tariff reduction bonus has been released quickly. We have used the preferential policy of origin (accumulation rule) to export to RCEP countries, saving customers more than 5 million yuan in import tariffs, effectively improving the competitiveness of our products in the international market." Han Jie, Minister of Import and Export Customs of Dongyue Group, said.
Fan Ruojun, vice president of Guangxi Academy of Social Sciences, said that in the RCEP agreement, tariff reduction is the key content. According to the agreement, the member countries will set tariffs in pairs, gradually reduce the tariffs on more than 90% products to zero in about 10 years, and implement unified rules of origin in the region, stipulating that the value of goods’ origin can be accumulated in member countries, which will continue to promote trade liberalization and facilitation among member countries.
Free Trade Zone Free Trade Port-
The list of "zero tariffs" continues to expand.
Further promote the implementation of more "zero tariff" policies, and the free trade pilot zone and free trade port are at the forefront.
On December 29th, 2023, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce and other five departments issued an announcement to pilot relevant import tax policies and measures in the conditional free trade pilot zone and free trade port, which clearly stated that in the special customs supervision area where Hainan Free Trade Port implements the "first-line" liberalization and "second-line" control of import and export management system, goods temporarily allowed by enterprises to enter the pilot area for repair from abroad from the date of implementation of this announcement will be exempted from customs duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax.
The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce said that this measure has changed the "first-line" import duty-free and re-export duty-free of goods currently entering the special customs supervision area of Hainan Free Trade Port into direct duty-free, breaking through the current bonded policy; At the same time, it will be beneficial to the development of related maintenance industries to allow the goods that are no longer shipped out of the country to be sold domestically.
Hainan Free Trade Port has made new progress in "zero tariff" in recent years, including temporarily entering the country to repair goods. According to the latest data of Haikou Customs, since the implementation of the "zero tariff" policy for raw materials in Hainan Free Trade Port for three years, the customs has gone through the customs clearance procedures for the import of "zero tariff" raw materials, and the accumulated import value has exceeded 8.3 billion yuan, and the tax reduction has exceeded 1.1 billion yuan, effectively reducing the production and operation costs of enterprises.
On December 1, 2020, the "zero tariff" policy for raw materials of Hainan Free Trade Port was implemented. This policy makes it clear that before the whole island is closed, enterprises registered in Hainan Free Trade Port and with independent legal person status are exempted from import duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax when importing raw and auxiliary materials used for production and self-use, production and processing activities in the mode of "two ends out" or service trade in the mode of "two ends out". Enterprises do not need to submit a guarantee, but only need to pay the import duties, import value-added tax and consumption tax of the corresponding raw materials in domestic sales, so as to meet the business needs of Hainan Free Trade Port enterprises and alleviate the financial pressure.
Xu Lingling, chief of the Inspection and Evaluation Management Section of Haikou Customs Customs, introduced that the "zero tariff" policy for raw and auxiliary materials implemented positive list management, with the first batch of 169 listed commodities. By the end of 2021, after adjusting and adding 187 new commodities such as fresh durian, vinyl chloride and aero-engine parts, the number of listed commodities reached 356, including agricultural products such as coconut, resource products such as coal, chemicals such as vinyl chloride and parts for aircraft and ship maintenance.
After the "zero tariff" policy for raw materials, Hainan Free Trade Port successively implemented the "zero tariff" policy for vehicles and yachts and the "zero tariff" policy for self-use production equipment. On January 5th this year, Hainan released the Measures for the Administration of Zero Tariff Imported Vehicles and Yachts in Hainan Free Trade Port (Trial), and put forward 50 specific measures.
The relevant person in charge of the Hainan Provincial Department of Transportation said that the Ministry of Finance, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration of Taxation recently issued a notice to adjust the "zero tariff" policy for vehicles and yachts in Hainan Free Trade Port, and added 22 items to the "zero tariff" import list. In the face of new situations and changes, the document issued this time will further enhance the adaptability of the "zero tariff" import vehicle and yacht policy.
Reporter Qiu Haifeng
