On August 25, it’s learned from Yichang Customs that according to the provisions of Announcement No.136by China’s General Administration of Customs in 2019, the “upgraded” China-ASEAN Certificates of Origin were officially issued on August 20. By August 23, Yichang Customs has issued 31 “upgraded” China-ASEAN certificates of origin to enterprises, with a value of $ 1.469 million. The enterprises enjoy a tariff concession of $ 125,000, with an average concession rate of 8.5%.

　　According to the statistics of Yichang Customs, the number of all-year-round issue of certificates of origin for China-ASEAN in 2018 was 2,667, accounting for 47.5% of the total number of the kind, with a worth of 150 million dollars, accounting for 50.2% of the total, saving about 13.06 million dollars in customs duties for enterprises. And the certificates are mostly sent to Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. The ASEAN Free Trade Agreement has been implemented and issuing such certificates since January 1, 2004, and has now issued the most free trade agreement certificates to China.

　　On August 20 this year, China and ASEAN countries completed all the relevant procedures of the “upgraded version” of the Free Trade Agreement and formally began to implement it. It is reported that the “upgraded” China-ASEAN certificates of origin are easier to acquire: it’s the first time for producers to be allowed to apply for an ASEAN certificate of origin, eliminating the previous restriction denying the eligibility of producers to such application; the previous limit of 20 items of goods in the certificate has been lifted, and instead the number of goods is no longer limited; and such information as manufacturer and trademark in goods description column of ASEAN certificate of origin is no longer required, making it easier for exporters to apply for such certificates. (Reporter: Pei ShuJing; Correspondent: Lei Lihua)