China-Sierra Free Trade Agreement Takes Effect on July 1

Recently, the State Council Tariff Commission issued an announcement that from July 1 this year, some imported goods originating from Serbia will be subject to the agreed tariff rate in accordance with the Free Trade Agreement between the Government of the People's Republic of China and the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

On June 30, at the SCO Demonstration Zone Certificate of Origin Examination and Approval Center of Qingdao Customs, customs officers were working with Ning Weili, business manager of Qingdao Xiangyi Food Co., Ltd., to design a preferential plan for enterprises after the entry into force of the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement.

Ning Weili introduced that the company exports chili products to Serbia every year, with a trade volume of about 1.2 million yuan. After the entry into force of the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement, their exported products can obtain tariff concessions of more than 10,000 yuan in Serbia in the second half of this year.

"Benefiting from the tariff concessions under the free trade agreement, we are more confident in stabilizing orders and opening up emerging markets. It is expected that export orders to Serbia in the second half of this year will increase by 20% year-on-year." Ning Weili said.

According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, in the first five months of this year, Shandong's imports and exports to Serbia reached 2.32 billion yuan. After the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement comes into effect, Shandong's main beneficiary industries are electronics, home appliances, photovoltaics, and mechanical parts.

"It is estimated that Shandong enterprises can save about 7 million yuan in tariff costs in the first year after the agreement comes into effect." The relevant person in charge of the Customs Tariff Department of Qingdao Customs introduced that Qingdao Customs will formulate a list of opportunities for tariff reductions in Shandong's goods trade under the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement, and guide enterprises to make full use of preferential policies such as tariff reductions under the agreement through policy publicity and targeted promotion.

The reporter learned that the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement is the first free trade agreement signed between China and Central and Eastern European countries. China and Serbia will cancel tariffs on 90% of the tariff items respectively. Among them, my country will include generators, motors, tires, beef, wine, nuts, etc. originating in Serbia into zero tariffs, and the tariffs on relevant products will be gradually reduced from 5%-20% to zero. Serbia will include automobiles, photovoltaic modules, lithium batteries, communication equipment, mechanical equipment, refractory materials, and some agricultural and aquatic products originating in my country into zero tariffs, and the tariffs on relevant products will be gradually reduced from the current 5%-20% to zero.