China Begins To Cut Tariffs For IT Products
China reduced its trade tariffs on 201 information technology (IT) products under the expanded Information Technology Agreement on September 15.
The cut to its duty rates follows through with China’s commitments within the expanded Information Technology Agreement (ITA), which was approved in December 2015 under the auspices of the World Trade Organization.
Over 50 countries, including China, reached an agreement last year to begin implementing their tariff-reducing commitments to the ITA by July 1, 2016, but the timetable was subject to the completion of domestic procedural requirements in each country. China’s enabling legislation was passed earlier this month.
The expanded ITA also established that tariffs on IT products would be gradually reduced annually, with their effective elimination no later than July 1, 2019. However, the Ministry of Finance confirmed that China aims to reduce most tariffs on the IT products on its list to zero within three to five years. A small number of products will have their tariffs reduced to zero within seven years.
Chinese tariffs will now be decreased on multi-element integrated circuits, touch screens, semiconductors, certain audio-visual products, and medical devices and instruments, among other things.
Source: Tax News
