Source: Caixin Online Reporter: Chen Na Date: 2016-9-14
(Beijing) — China will eliminate tariffs on a wide range of technology products imported from World Trade Organization members in the next few years in an effort to implement its commitments to the trade organization.
Starting Thursday (September 15, 2016), China will cut import duties on 201 IT products covered by the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) — a global technology trade pact under the WTO — according to a statement published on the Finance Ministry's website Wednesday. The products include integrated circuits, touch screens, semiconductors and medical devices.
The government also promised to completely eliminate tariffs on 63 products covered by the ITA in the next seven years.
The move is meant to "implement the ITA expansion list," which covers 201 products valued at over $1.3 trillion a year, according to the statement.
Over 50 countries, including China, reached an agreement last year at a WTO meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, to begin implementing their tariff commitments to the ITA by July 1, 2016, but the timetable is subject to the completion of domestic procedural requirements in each country.
The United States has promised to remove tariffs on all the items on the ITA list in three years, and the European Union has said it will drop tariffs on 97 percent of its IT products.