On January 1, 2022, the world’s largest free trade agreement, the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement (RCEP), was officially implemented. At 0:00 on January 1, Shenzhen Huanggang port welcomed the first imported goods in China after the RCEP agreement came into force. 5.6 tons of reflective film originating from Japan will be used to produce backlight products such as mobile phones and digital cameras after being inspected and released by Shenzhen Customs officers. The value of this batch of goods is 1.33 million yuan, which can save customs duties of about 6000 yuan. On the same day, Shenzhen CCPIT issued 28 certificates of origin under RCEP for 10 Shenzhen enterprises, including Gore (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Xinyuan Special Steel Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen xinjinlian Trade Co., Ltd., involving an export amount of about US $3 million, covering chemicals, clothing, plastic products, auto parts and other categories, Help enterprises obtain tariff relief of about 43000 US dollars from importing countries.
In the first 11 months of 2021, the import and export scale of Shenzhen to 14 other RCEP trading partners exceeded 800 billion yuan, an increase of 11.8%, reaching a record high in the same period. The main import and export commodities include electronic components, optical equipment, household appliances, etc. After RCEP takes effect, more than 90% of the trade in goods in the region will finally achieve zero tariff, and products that meet RCEP rules of origin can enjoy tariff reduction. Under the RCEP agreement, China’s import and export goods to Japan enjoy the agreement tariff for the first time. China’s imports of chemicals, optical products, rubber products, steel products, engine parts and auto parts from Japan and Japan’s imports of Shenzhen Agricultural Products Group Co.Ltd(000061) , food, clothing and chemicals from China are expected to reduce trade costs and expand trade scale. Shenzhen’s characteristic and advantageous industries such as 5g, electromechanical, automobile, medicine, textile and garment will usher in new development opportunities after RCEP takes effect. Taking driverless cars and UAVs as examples, GPS navigation system, lidar, sensors and other equipment need to be used. At present, the above-mentioned equipment produced in China needs to pay an import tariff of 8% when imported from South Korea. After RCEP takes effect, these products will be reduced to zero tariff immediately or gradually within 10 years, which will greatly reduce the export cost of enterprises and improve the competitiveness of Chinese products in the international market.
Shenzhen attaches great importance to seizing RCEP opportunities and serving enterprises to expand the market. On December 3, 2021, the Shenzhen Municipal Government approved the issuance of the Shenzhen action plan on seizing the opportunity of the regional comprehensive economic partnership agreement to improve the global high-end factor resource allocation capacity, and put forward 28 specific measures for ten actions from the aspects of industrial chain stabilization, including improving the supply chain guarantee system and supporting enterprises to establish overseas direct purchase centers in RCEP countries; Expand the export of advanced manufacturing industry, formulate the list of key export commodities in Shenzhen’s RCEP national market, and hold an imported consumer goods exhibition for RCEP market; Expand the development space of high-end services, support the replication and promotion of financial technology products, and support enterprises to use new digital means to develop RCEP national market; Accelerate the construction of overseas economic and trade cooperation zones and organize RCEP overseas Shenzhen chamber of Commerce or overseas service post station system; Strive to introduce headquarters enterprises, encourage and introduce more RCEP multinational companies to set up headquarters enterprises in Shenzhen, etc.
Focusing on RCEP’s requirements of “simplifying customs procedures and efficiently releasing goods to facilitate trade”, Shenzhen Customs provides enterprises with multiple declaration methods of “two-step declaration” and “early declaration”. Through the application of “two-step declaration”, enterprises can wait until the “complete declaration” stage to confirm the declaration difficulties involving commodity classification and origin, Compared with the original declaration mode, the overall customs clearance time of imports can be reduced by more than half, which makes the customs clearance of goods under the safeguard agreement safer and more convenient at the port.
Shenzhen CCPIT will set up a “RCEP special service window”, set up a “RCEP expert service team”, open a RCEP special service hotline, carry out RCEP series of special training, do a good job in RCEP policy interpretation, provide customized RCEP application guidance, and a series of service initiatives such as “online”, “appointment”, “mail” and “fast” convenient visas, Timely meet various needs of enterprises for RCEP visa and help enterprises enjoy tariff reduction and exemption to the greatest extent.
At present, all departments are jointly building Shenzhen RCEP service center. In the first stage, with the main goal of promoting full coverage of the agreement, more than 100 publicity and training sessions are planned to be held throughout the year for key policies, tariff lists, positive application procedures of origin, industrial land accumulation rules, etc; Release the Catalogue Products of RCEP tax reduction list by country and update the catalogue in time. Set up “RCEP column” in the single window of China (Shenzhen) international trade to push the latest policy trends and application experience for enterprises in time; At the same time, actively guide enterprises to carry out RCEP commodity exhibition, build RCEP overseas post station service system, prepare for RCEP Summit Forum, serve Shenzhen enterprises, seize RCEP opportunities and realize stable and high-quality development of foreign trade and economic cooperation. (Liu Li)
(International Business Daily)
