The 22nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress reviewed and approved the "Amendment to the Tariff Concession Schedule of the People's Republic of China for Accession to the World Trade Organization" on the 3rd. Accordingly, my country will soon begin to gradually reduce and eventually eliminate tariffs on 201 information technology products imported from World Trade Organization members.
These products include information and communication products, semiconductors and their production equipment, audio-visual products, medical equipment, instrumentation, etc. The import tariffs on most of these products will be reduced to zero in three or five years, and the import tariffs on a small number of products will be reduced to zero in seven years. During the review process, Lou Jiwei, Director of the Tariff Commission of the State Council and Minister of Finance, explained the basic situation and main contents of the amendment.
According to the decision of the 17th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress, in 2001, our country signed the "Protocol of the Accession of the People's Republic of China". The protocol is the main legal document for my country's accession to the World Trade Organization, and the tariff concession schedule is one of its important annexes. This bill is the first amendment to the tariff concession schedule since my country's accession to the World Trade Organization, and it is also the first time that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has reviewed the tariff concession amendment. The meeting's adoption of the motion demonstrates my country's consistent position in supporting the world's multilateral trading system.
This review and approval of the amendment will help promote the implementation of the negotiations by all parties to expand the product scope of the Information Technology Agreement under the framework of the World Trade Organization. my country joined the negotiations in 2012. After arduous negotiations between all parties, on December 16, 2015, 24 participants, including my country, jointly issued the "Ministerial Declaration on Expanding Trade in Information Technology Products", which clarified that all participants will gradually eliminate import tariffs on 201 information technology products for WTO members in accordance with the principle of most-favored-nation treatment after completing domestic approvals. This is the first major tariff reduction result achieved by the World Trade Organization in the past two decades. The annual global trade volume of the products covered is approximately US$1.3 trillion. The smooth implementation of this result will effectively promote the development of global trade, investment and information technology, and make an important contribution to global economic growth.
my country’s trade volume of the above-mentioned products accounts for about a quarter of the global trade volume of similar products, ranking first in the world. The tax reduction implemented by all participants will be conducive to promoting the export of my country's information technology products, and will help my country's enterprises using information technology products to reduce costs, improve production efficiency, and move towards the high end of the industry. Objectively, my country's tariff reduction will also bring pressure and challenges to related domestic industries. Enterprises need to actively respond, accelerate transformation and upgrading, improve quality and efficiency, meet challenges with innovative development, and continuously improve core competitiveness and sustainable development capabilities.
ANNA