On December 9, the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China held a press conference. Ren Hongbin, the Assistant Minister of Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, introduced the guidelines of the State Council on promoting high-quality development of trade, and answered the questions of reporter.
Li Xinggan, the Director of Department of Foreign Trade of Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, pointed out that since this year, the import and export of foreign trade has been bucking the trend. From January to November, the total amount of foreign trade reaches CNY 28.5 trillion, up 2.4% year on year. Foreign trade is expected to remain stable at CNY 30 trillion for the full year.
From an international perspective, the export growth rate of China is higher than the overall level of the world major economies. The export growth rate of medical devices is higher than the overall growth rate.
Last year, China made four voluntary tax cuts. The overall tariff level fell to 7.5% from 9.8% the previous year, focusing on cutting tariffs on some industrial products, consumer goods and automobiles that the people are in great demand for, and implementing zero tariffs on anti-cancer drugs.
In addition to the exemption of anti-cancer drugs from tariffs, a new batch of medical devices has been added, covering free of tariffs and value-added tax on imported anesthesia machines, CT, DR and other medical devices and accessories.
Recently, the Ministry of Finance of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology the People’s Republic of China, the General Administration of Customs, P.R. China, the State Taxation Administration and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the Notice on Adjusting the List of Import Tax Policy for Major Technologies and Equipment (hereinafter referred to as “the Notice”).
The Notice pointed out that the equipment or products that are listed in the Catalogue of Major Technical Equipment and Products Supported by the State (revised in 2019) and the Catalogue of Import Key Components and Raw Materials for Major Technical Equipment and Products (revised in 2019) and are necessary for import, can be exempted from the customs duties and import value-added tax.
