Customs Measures Move With the Times
The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China recently released its Decision on Amending the PRC Customs Measures for the Supervision of Processing Trade Goods (Decision), which has been in effect since 2004. The new measure was announced on 14 January 2008 and took effect since 1 March 2008. This development heralds the end of a long process of outward processing trade reform that will see the upgrade of China’s processing trade.
Date:
May 2008
Keywords (click to search): [Customs] [trade]
The original PRC Customs Measures for the Supervision of Processing Trade Goods (Measures) first took effect on 1 April 2004 and was aimed at unifying customs regulations in processing trade and paving the way for the further upgrade and development of China’s processing trade. It summarized customs’ experience over 20 years in regulating the processing trade.
The starting point of China’s processing trade can be traced back to 1978 when China first opened its door to the outside world. The processing trade in China has seen its development from simple processing of supplied materials to what is now a comprehensive system with a combination of processing supplied materials and imported materials in which its annual turnover constitutes almost half of the total amount of China’s imports and exports. Areas of processing trade have also developed from Guangdong and Fujian to the entire Chinese territory. Foreign Invested Enterprises (FIEs) have played a major role in the business whereby “high-tech”, “deep processing” and “high increased value” are becoming keywords.
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