From December 1, 32 countries will cancel the GSP treatment of China’s export products

        Starting from December 1, 2021, China’s customs will no longer issue GSP certificates of origin for goods exported to 32 countries including EU member states, the UK, Canada, Turkey and Ukraine. This is the core content of a notice issued by the General Administration of Customs at the end of October on no longer issuing gP Certificates of Origin for goods exported to EU member States, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Ukraine and Liechtenstein (Notice No. 84, 2021). This announcement, to the ordinary people seems not to attract too much attention, but for many of our country’s manufacturing enterprises, especially export enterprises are of great importance. Behind it, 32 countries, including eu member states, the UK, Canada, Turkey, Ukraine and Liechtenstein, cancelled the GSP treatment for China’s exports, that is, China will be regarded as a developed country in trade, no longer give GSP tariff preferences.

        The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), Is the developed country (favored country) to developing countries and regions (favored country) export manufactured products and semi-manufactured products to give universal, non-discriminatory, non-reciprocal tariff preferential system. Since the implementation of GSP in 1978, there have been 40 countries to give China GSP tariff preferences, most of which are China’s important trading partners, such as eu member states and Britain, Russia, Canada, Japan and so on. China has also actively used the GSP to expand exports to developed countries, playing an important role in the growth of foreign trade and industrial development.

        It is understood that the 40 countries that have given China GSP tariff preferences are: The European Union’s 27 countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Poland, the Czech republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Malta and Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia), UK, Europe and Asia Economic union 3 countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan), Turkey, Ukraine, Canada, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Japan, Norway, New Zealand, Australia.

        However, with the rapid development of China’s economy and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, According to the World Bank standard, China is no longer a low or medium low income economy. For this reason, a number of GSP countries in recent years announced the cancellation of GSP treatment for China. After canceling the GSP treatment to the favored country, China’s export commodities can not enjoy tariff preference by GSP certificate of origin. Accordingly, the relevant customs visa measures will also be adjusted accordingly. Previously, after the Japanese Embassy and the Eurasian Economic Commission notified the cancellation of GSP treatment for China, the Customs has stopped issuing GSP certificates of origin for Japan on April 1, 2019 and for the Eurasian Economic Union on October 12, 2021 respectively.

        GSP certificate of Origin is a preferential certificate of origin issued by the authorized organization of the preferential country according to the rules of origin and related requirements of the preferential country of GSP. It is the official certificate for export products to enjoy the preferential tariff of the preferential country of GSP. There is no doubt that enjoying tariff preference is the most important and critical use of GSP co (CepA). For China, due to the “demand” of foreign customers in international trade, the GSP certificate of origin issued by China has also been used for other purposes, including as a certificate of origin, for foreign exchange settlement and liquidity, trade practices and trade documents. In our country, customs is the only visa agency for GSP certificate of origin.

        Starting from December 1, China’s customs will no longer issue GSP certificates of origin to other countries including Canada, Turkey, Ukraine, Liechtenstein and the UK, which has left the EU. In this regard, the General Administration of Customs has also issued a reminder to relevant enterprises, suggesting that export enterprises inform foreign customers of the customs announcement requirements as soon as possible, do a good job of communication and explanation, to avoid the lack of GSP certificate of origin and affect the trade situation. At the same time, non-preferential certificate of origin (also known as General Certificate of Origin, or CO for short) can be applied for by relevant enterprises which need to apply for certificate of origin documents for goods exported to the above 32 countries. Non-preferential co (CEPA) is a certificate of origin for goods issued in accordance with the non-preferential rules of origin of the country. At present, self-printing has been realized. Compared with GSP CO (CEPA), it is more convenient and efficient to apply for it. According to the General Administration of Customs, self-printing of non-preferential certificates of origin has been realized at present. Compared with the GSP certificate of origin, the application is more convenient and efficient, enterprises can complete the whole application process without leaving home.

        As of December 1, Norway, New Zealand and Australia are the only countries that still retain the GSP treatment. In this regard, foreign trade professionals told Beiqing – Beijing headlines reporter, 32 countries to cancel the GSP treatment for China, temporarily will let some export enterprises lose tariff preferences, bringing certain pressure. But generally speaking, the impact is limited: as the competitiveness of Chinese-made products is becoming stronger and stronger, the simple tariff policy can hardly affect the overall international trade of Chinese products, so it will not affect China’s export enterprises to strive for greater market opportunities in the future.

        Meanwhile, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will enter into force on January 1 next year, marking a new milestone in China’s further opening-up. RCEP is a high-level free trade agreement initiated by ten asean countries and jointly participated by China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and other five countries that have free trade agreements with ASEAN, and a total of 15 countries. RCEP aims to create a single market free trade agreement by cutting tariff and non-tariff barriers.

Article source：Beijing Youth Daily