At a regular press conference held by the Ministry of Commerce, spokesperson Jian Yao said that the Ministry of Commerce supports the Customs in performing its duties according to law and actively responds to and solves public concerns.
Today, I was answering a reporter's question. "Recently, I heard that the Ministry of Commerce sent an inquiry letter to the General Administration of Customs about the import tax on iPad. Does the Ministry of Commerce think that the customs tax on postal articles is not in line with WTO principles? " Jian Yao said that the General Administration of Customs issued Announcement No.43 and Announcement No.54 in July and August this year, mainly to strengthen and standardize the supervision of personal luggage and postal articles entering and leaving the country. The Ministry of Commerce believes that this is a measure taken by the General Administration of Customs in accordance with relevant laws and regulations and some new situations that have emerged at present. In response to this public concern, the head of the customs department also made a response, explaining the management system of postal articles, the classification of articles, the adjustment of duty-paid prices, and the improvement of passenger customs clearance services. The Ministry of Commerce supports the Customs in performing its duties according to law, and supports the Customs in actively responding to and solving public concerns.
IT products zero tariff for goods iPad is an article.
According to the Customs Law, China mainly divides inbound and outbound commodities into two categories: goods and articles, which are subject to different management regulations, including tax rates and licenses. The so-called goods are goods that enter and leave the country through trade channels for processing, production and sales. According to WTO regulations, IT products should gradually reduce tariffs to zero, which is aimed at "goods", and iPad is an article, not a commodity.
In fact, as early as 2005, China has implemented zero tariffs on computer products, and only 17% value-added tax is needed for imports. Articles are personal. At present, the management system of levying import duties on some articles implemented by China Customs is consistent with the practices recommended by the World Customs Organization, and its legal basis is the Customs Law, the Regulations on Import and Export Tariffs and the Provisional Regulations on Value-added Tax.
The Customs Valuation Agreement does not apply to non-commercial imported products.
"The tax base of 5,000 yuan is not aimed at the iPad." Wang Weiqing, assistant director of the Institute of Taxation, School of Overseas Education, Shanghai Jiaotong University, explained that as early as 2007, the Customs formulated the Classification Table of Import Tax Tariffs for Luggage and Personal Postal Articles of Inbound Passengers and the Duty-paid Price List for Luggage and Personal Postal Articles of Inbound Passengers. The prices of different models and configurations of electronic products vary greatly, and the prices will drop a lot after being put on the market for a period of time, so it is difficult to price each product separately.
The information technology agreement signed by China when it joined the WTO does not apply to articles brought by individuals when they enter the country. Wang Weiqing pointed out that WTO rules are mainly aimed at trade between countries, involving goods, while Announcement No.54 of the General Administration of Customs is aimed at personal articles. Therefore, the "Information Technology Agreement" signed when China joined the WTO does not apply to the articles carried by individuals when they enter the country.
The "scope of application" in the Customs Valuation Agreement indicates that the agreement is applicable to goods that are normally imported in the commercial sense. Non-commercial imports, including passengers' entry articles or luggage and postal articles, are listed in several cases where this Agreement does not apply. In other words, passengers bring into the country.
IPad belongs to personal belongings, not goods, and the customs valuation agreement is not applicable.