China’s 2013 Tariff Plan: Three Import Duty Adjustments for Printing Equipment and Materials

Under the 2013 Tariff Implementation Plan, imports of printing equipment and materials faced three adjustments: five photosensitive material products, including flexographic printing plates, moved from specific duty to ad valorem duty; two tariff lines for printing equipment and materials were added; and the taxation schemes for three types of printing equipment and materials were revised.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council issued the 2013 Tariff Implementation Plan (Tariff Commission [2012] No. 22), setting partial adjustments to China's import and export tariffs from January 1, 2013. Compared with 2012, the printing equipment and materials sector saw three changes: five photosensitive material products, including flexographic printing plates, shifted from specific duty to ad valorem duty; two commodity tax lines for printing equipment and materials were added; and taxation schemes for three types of printing equipment and materials were adjusted.

Five photosensitive products move to ad valorem duty

Schedule 3, the Schedule of Specific and Compound Duty Rates on Imported Goods, shows that 47 categories of goods, photosensitive materials included, will continue to use specific or compound duties at unchanged rates, while five photosensitive material products will use ad valorem duties. These are laser imagesetting film for unexposed photomechanical platemaking, PS plates for unexposed photomechanical platemaking, CTP plates for unexposed photomechanical platemaking, flexographic printing plates, and other unexposed photosensitive hard and soft films for photomechanical platemaking; all require any side >255 mm. For 2013, their general rate is 50% and their MFN rate is 10%.

Table note: relevant adjustments for printing equipment and materials in the Schedule of Specific and Compound Duty Rates on Imported Goods, listed from left to right as commodity name, general rate and MFN rate.

These five products were subject to specific duties in 2012, with a general rate of 70 yuan/m² and MFN rates of 3.7 yuan/m², 8.1 yuan/m² and 15 yuan/m². Moving to ad valorem duty allows tax collection to track price changes more reasonably and helps avoid burdens that are too low or too high.

Two new import tariff lines for printing equipment and materials

Schedule 4, the Schedule of Interim Duty Rates on Imported Goods, lists 20 types of printing equipment and materials, two more lines than in 2012: cross-cutting knife units for paper cutters, and inkjet printing equipment with 297mm<web width≤360mm that can connect to a network or automatic data processing equipment.

For cross-cutting knife units for paper cutters, the MFN rate is 8% and the proposed 2013 interim rate is 3%; for the inkjet printing equipment described above, the MFN rate is 8% and the proposed 2013 interim rate is 5%.

Taxation schemes adjusted for three types of printing equipment and materials

In Schedule 4, the Schedule of Interim Duty Rates on Imported Goods, import taxation schemes are adjusted for three types of printing equipment and materials:

Four-color sheet-fed offset printing press: half-size sheet single-sided speed ≥17,000 sheets/hour; half-size sheet double-sided ≥13,000 sheets/hour; full-size or larger sheet single-sided ≥13,000 sheets/hour. Five-color and above sheet-fed offset printing press: half-size sheet single-sided ≥17,000 sheets/hour; half-size sheet double-sided ≥13,000 sheets/hour; full-size or larger sheet single-sided ≥13,000 sheets/hour. Aniline printing press (flexographic printing press): linear speed ≥350 m/min, web width ≥800 mm.

The half-size sheet single-sided speed thresholds for four-color sheet-fed offset presses and for five-color and above sheet-fed offset presses both rose from ≥16,000 sheets/hour in 2012 to ≥17,000 sheets/hour in 2013; the linear speed threshold for aniline presses (flexographic presses) rose from ≥300 m/min in 2012 to ≥350 m/min in 2013. The 2013 MFN and interim duty rates for these three categories are unchanged from 2012: proposed interim rates of 7%, 7% and 3%, respectively, with an MFN rate of 10% for all.

Table note: the section on printing equipment and materials in the Schedule of Interim Duty Rates on Imported Goods, listed from left to right as tariff line code, commodity name, MFN rate and proposed 2013 interim rate.

Tan Junqiao, advisor to the China Printing and Equipment Industry Association and honorary chairman of the Label Printing Branch, said the tariff schemes for these three equipment types were adjusted because domestic enterprises can already meet the standards set in the 2012 tariff implementation plan, and the move is intended to protect national enterprises.

This article is reposted from China Packaging Network (pack.cn). Original link: http://news.pack.cn/show-362007.html