China to Adjust Import and Export Duties for Certain Goods

The Ministry of Finance of the PRC ("MOF") announced on December 17, 2008 that effective January 1, 2009, China will further lower the import and export duties of certain goods, such as steel, coal and oil, in order to (i) promote the development of new technologies; (ii) enhance environmental protection; and (iii) ease the burden of domestic industries, including, but not limited to textile, fertilizer and steel manufacturing. In addition to these import and export duty adjustments, in order to encourage self-innovation of domestic entities, MOF, jointly with the National Development and Reform Commission of the PRC, modified the Catalogue of Imported Commodities Not Entitled to Tax Exemption for Domestic Investment Projects by adding thirty-six (36) new items not entitled to import tax exemption, which include, but are not limited to, agricultural products and construction machinery. The relevant tax exemption policies are mainly provided in the Circular of the State Council on Adjustment of Imported Taxation Policies, issued in 1997. The amended Catalogue took effect on December 15, 2008.


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