Meeting held to help Guangdong firms benefit from RCEP

“The implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement will act as an impetus to help the world economy recover from the recession caused by the global pandemic and a beacon of hope for stagnant global governance,” Yan Yun, Director of Commercial Certification Center of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), said at a meeting for improving the service of trade promotion bodies in Guangdong on issuing RCEP Certificates of Origin in Guangzhou on January 19.

This meeting is to help improve the issuing service and local business communities tap into RCEP opportunities by inviting experts and professionals to share their takes on important rules of origin under the RCEP agreement.

Zhang Shenfeng, Vice President of CCPIT, gave three suggestions on offering better service for enterprises in Guangdong: focusing more on the issuance of preferential certificates of origin (PCO); improving service quality on issuing PCO with more professional staff; accelerating the implementation of the RCEP agreement under the“Internet+FTA” strategy.

According to Qiu Zhaoxian, Vice President of CCPIT Guangdong Committee, Guangdong has issued 54 RCEP certificates involving 3.7087 million USD of FOB in the first three days of 2022, bringing tariff reductions and exemptions valued about 370,800 USD for enterprises.

Up to the morning of January 18, trade promotion bodies in Guangdong had issued 314 RCEP Certificates of Origin involving FOB of exports worth 18.3144 million USD with tariff reduction and exemption worth about 1.83 million USD. The RCEP agreement came into force on January 1 this year.

Among these 314 certificates, 287 were issued for the exports to Japan, 9 to Australia, 8 to Thailand, 7 to Vietnam, 2 to Singapore and 1 to Myanmar, covering products such as alloy products, plastic products, garment, textiles, luggage, toys, household products, light industrial products and others.

“Trade promotion bodies in Guangdong have rolled out over 40 training sessions on understanding the RCEP Agreement in trading with ASEAN countries in 2021 to help enterprises better understand RCEP, enjoy more benefit from it and advance their ability to abide by international rules,” said Qiu.

In a bid to promote the implementation of RCEP in Guangdong, trade promotion organizations in each level will invite experts from chamber, universities, institutions and companies to offer consultation and solutions for enterprises in aspects ranging from tariff planning, the layout of international supply chains to the compliance management of origin.

This event is held by China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Guangdong Committee (CCPIT Guangdong) and FTA Service Center (Guangdong) and will last until January 20.

Any firms who are interested in the RCEP Certificates of Origin can apply free of charge via the CCPIT application system: http://qiye.ccpiteco.net.