Laws of the People's Republic of China

The General Administration of Customs

Announcement of the General Administration of Customs on the Relevant Issues concerning the Adjustment of the "Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People's Republic of China"

[2002] No. 39

December 25, 2002

Upon the approval of the State Council, the items and tariff rates in the Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People's Republic of China shall be adjusted as of January 1, 2003. For the relevant details, please refer to the 2003 version of Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People's Republic of China (published by Law Press. China). We hereby announce the relevant issues as follows:

I.

Part of the items in the import tariff have been adjusted, and the total number of the items of the import tariff after the adjustment is 7445, which is 129 more than that in 2002.

II.

The MFN tariff rates of 3019 items in the import tariff has been reduced, and after the adjustment, the arithmetic average tariff level has been reduced from 12% to 11%; while the common rates of import tariff are kept unchanged.

III.

Specific duty or compound duty shall continue to be applied to 51 items of commodities such as frozen chicken, beer and video cameras, etc., with their tariff rates being reduced in different degrees compared with those in 2002.

IV.

The tariff quota administration shall continue to be applied to 10 agricultural products such as wheat, bean oil, etc. and 3 fertilizers such as urea, etc., with their tariff rates beyond the quota being reduced in different degrees compared with those in 2002, and their tariff rates within the quota being kept unchanged.

V.

With respect to the 15 commodities to which the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) tariff rates are partly applied, whether the ITA tariff rates shall be applied to them shall be examined, checked and determined by the competent customs at the locality of the enterprise. The consignee or consigner of the imported or exported goods or his agent shall, 15 working days before the goods are actually imported, submit to the local customs an "Application Form on the Uses of the Commodities to which ITA Tariff Rates are partly applied" (hereinafter referred to as "Application Form", see Attachment 1). The customs shall, if determining that they shall be subject to ITA tariff rates upon examination and check, issue a "Proof on Ascertainment of the Uses of the Commodities to which ITA Tariff Rates are partly applied" (hereinafter referred to as "Proof on Uses", see Attachment 2), and the customs at the place of import shall levy customs duty according to the ITA tariff rates.

VI.

To the 757 items of imported commodities originating in Korea, Sri Lanka, Bengal and Laos, the tariff rates in Bangkok Agreement shall be applied; while to the 20 items of imported commodities originating in Bengal, special preferential tariff rates shall be applied.

VII.

One item is added to the export tariff, and the tariff rates in the export tariff have not been adjusted.

VIII.

The tariff rates temporarily determined under the annual MFN shall be applied to 216 imported commodities, and the annually determined temporary tariff rates shall be applied to 23 exported commodities, with the date of expiry to be December 31, 2003 (the date for application).

IX.

The rate of single ad valorem duty, instead of the sliding scale duty, shall be applied to newsprint paper.

This is hereby the announcement.

Attachments:

1. Application Form on the Uses of the Commodities to which ITA Tariff Rates are Partly Applied (Omitted)

2. Proof on Ascertainment of the Uses of the Commodities to which ITA Tariff Rates are Partly Applied (Omitted)