The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (‘RCEP’) gathering fifteen Asian countries including the People’s Republic of China (‘PRC’) has finally entered into force on January 1st, 2022.
Among the measures contained in the RCEP, such as trading, investment, intellectual property protection and government procurement, the RCEP aims at unifying tariffs and customs procedures among its members. In this respect, the PRC has decided to take the following measures:
Adjustment of import and export tariffs on specific items;
Application of conventional duty tax rates on selected goods from 29 countries; and
Simplification of customs procedures with the unification of the certificate of origin to be aligned with RCEP members.
In light of the above, the latest tariff adjustment plan of PRC will certainly impact companies that import and export taxable goods and services with PRC and may lead to some changes in the business operations for foreign investors.
Moreover, with the simplification of customs procedures and the new unified rule of origin, foreign stakeholders can also expect a better access to Chinese market, lower costs, more flexibility and streamline of supply chains in Asia.
