Interpretation Of The China Switzerland Free Trade Agreement By The Director Of The Department Of International Trade And Economic Relations Of The Ministry Of Commerce

< p > Q: what are the main contents of the agreement? < /p >

< p > answer: the content of the agreement is rich.

The main body of the agreement consists of 16 chapters, including preamble, general provisions, trade in goods, rules of origin and operation procedures, customs procedures and trade facilitation, trade remedy, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade in services, investment promotion, competition policy, intellectual property protection, environmental issues, economic and technological cooperation, mechanism clauses, dispute settlement and final provisions.

In addition, the agreement also includes 11 attachments, such as tariff reduction schedules, product specific rules of origin, certificate of origin, textile labels, and specific commitments for trade in services.

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< p > Q: what is unique about the "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/ > agreement < /a > compared with the FTA signed by China and other countries and regions? < /p >

< p > a. the agreement is one of the highest and most comprehensive FTA in China in recent years. It has the following characteristics: < /p >

< p > first, the zero tariff rate of goods trade in the agreement is high.

Rui Fang will immediately impose zero tariffs on 99.7% of China's exports, and China will finally implement zero tariffs on 84.2% of Rui Fang's exports.

If some tax reduction products are added, the proportion of products that Switzerland participates in tax reduction is 99.99%, and the Chinese side is 96.5%.

In terms of industrial products, Rui Fang's textile products, clothing, shoes and hats, auto parts and metal products and so on have been greatly reduced to me.

These are our main export interest products. Rui Fang has promised to implement zero tariff immediately from the date of the entry into force of the agreement.

In terms of agricultural products, in addition to general agricultural products, Rui Fang also made 23 processing agricultural products with export interest to China, while abolished industrial component tariffs, and cut tariffs on agricultural components by 40%.

The above 23 processed agricultural products cover almost all processed agricultural products that I have exported to Rui, including chewing gum, sweets, pastries, spaghetti and so on. The average tax reduction rate is up to 71%, making my agricultural products better than other countries' access conditions in the Swiss market.

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< p > Second, the agreement has established a good mechanism for cooperation between the two sides.

For example, the two sides agreed to strengthen environmental cooperation and enhance their level of environmental protection. The two sides agreed to set up a clocks cooperative working group under the framework of the Sino Swiss joint economic and Trade Commission. Through the launching of the clock cooperation, China will expand the introduction of the advanced inspection and maintenance technology of Rui Fang, cooperate with Rui Fang to train professional watches and talents, and enhance the development level of the Chinese watch industry.

The above cooperation mechanism is conducive to promoting pragmatic cooperation between the two sides and achieving common development.

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< p > Third, the agreement involves many new rules.

China and Switzerland agreed in the agreement on government procurement, environment, labor and employment cooperation, intellectual property rights, competition and other rules that rarely encountered in China's previous FTA negotiations.

It should be said that there is no uniform standard for these rules in the world, but the two sides do not shy away from it, but have reached a lot of common understanding in accordance with the principle of seeking common ground while reserving differences.

For example, the Chinese side agreed for the first time to set up separate chapters on environmental issues in the FTA, and clearly stipulated the specific rights and obligations of intellectual property protection, and enhanced the pparency and convenience of the protection of the rights holders.

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< p > Q: < a href= "http://www.91se91.com/" > goods trade < /a > content is usually one of the most important contents of the FTA. What is the level of liberalization of trade in goods under the agreement? < /p >

P: I mentioned just now that the agreement is one of the highest level FTA reached by China in recent years.

An important aspect of its high level lies in the high level of liberalization of trade in goods.

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< p > agreement stipulates that since the date of the entry into force of the agreement, Rui Fang has immediately imposed zero tariffs on 6958 products, and implemented partial tax reductions on 619 products, ranging from 10% to 50%. 254 products have been excluded as tax exceptions.

In terms of industrial products, Rui promised to implement zero tariffs from the date of entry into force of the agreement.

In terms of agricultural products, Rui promised to implement zero tariffs on 962 agricultural products from the date of the agreement, reduce taxes on 403 agricultural products, and abolish tariffs on the industrial components of 216 processed agricultural products (23 of the agricultural products will also cancel the tariff of 40% of their agricultural components), and will not tax the 254 agricultural products as an exception.

It can be said that this is the first time that Rui will open up its agricultural product market in the FTA for the first time. It is also the first time for Rui Fang to make a commitment to cut tariffs on the agricultural components of processing agricultural products in the WTO negotiations or the negotiation of the free trade area, so that our agricultural products can get a better opportunity to enter the market.

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< p > China immediately implements zero tariff on the 1803 products from the date of the entry into force of the agreement, implements zero tariffs on 5495 products after 5 years, 10 years or more, and 60% tax reduction for 168 products through 10 years' pition period (165 of which are reduced tax 18% from the date of entry into force of the agreement, and then a uniform tax reduction within the next 9 years).

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< p > overall, Rui Fang will export 99.7% of China's exports, and immediately implement the "a href=" http://www.91se91.com/ "zero tariff" /a "from the date of entry into force of the agreement". China will finally implement zero tariff on the export of Rui Fang 84.2%.

If some tax reduction products are added, the proportion of products that Switzerland participates in tax reduction is 99.99%, and the Chinese side is 96.5%.

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< p > Q: are there any breakthroughs in the service trade of the agreement? < /p >

< p > A: on the basis of commitments made by WTO on GATT, the two sides have further agreed on the opening of relevant service sectors.

For the first time, Rui Fang agreed to stipulate the time limit for handling visa, work permit and residence permit. Rui Fang agreed to carry out a dialogue on cooperation with Chinese medicine and promised to enhance pparency and enhance information exchange with China on issues such as major obstacles to the export of Chinese medicine services. Rui Fang also made further commitments in tourism and plation. These commitments will help our enterprises to better implement the "going out" strategy and deepen Sino Swiss Economic and trade cooperation.

Of course, the Chinese side has made further commitments in the securities and other service sectors according to the existing laws and regulations, which shows our open attitude.

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< p > Q: what is the innovation of the agreement in terms of procedure of origin and trade facilitation? < /p >

< p > answer: in respect of the procedure of origin implementation, both sides agree to adopt the independent declaration mode of enterprises, and agree to relax the origin declaration form and the relevant requirements of signature.

This is the first time China has adopted the independent declaration mode in the FTA, which will substantially increase the level of trade facilitation and reduce the cost of enterprises.

At the same time, the two sides agreed to establish an electronic information exchange system for origin declaration, and agreed to provide each other with a declaration serial number to enhance risk management.

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< p > the two sides also agreed to further simplify customs clearance procedures, ensure that the relevant laws and regulations are open and pparent, and use risk management and information technology to provide efficient and speedy customs clearance services for both enterprises so as to facilitate legitimate trade.

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< p > Q: what agreement did the agreement reach in the new rules of environment and intellectual property rights? < /p >

P: answer: the Sino Swiss FTA involves many new rules, including environment, intellectual property rights, competition and so on.

These are rarely encountered by China in the past FTA negotiations, and there is no uniform standard for these rules in the world.

During the negotiations, the Chinese side took care of the high standards of Rui Fang in terms of environment and intellectual property rights. Rui Fang also took into account the actual level of development and the acceptable level in China. The two sides finally reached a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement.

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< p > for example, the Sino Swiss FTA includes chapters on "environmental issues". This is the first time that the relevant contents of the environment have appeared in the independent trade agreement in China, reflecting the position of our country in keeping pace with the times and dealing with environmental and trade related issues.

The chapter on "environmental issues" stipulates the objectives, ways and funding arrangements of the two sides in environmental cooperation. It reiterates the willingness of both sides to promote economic development in a sustainable manner and continuously improve the level of environmental protection.

The two sides agreed that in practice, it is inappropriate to encourage trade and investment through weakening and reducing environmental standards such as domestic environmental laws, regulations and policies. At the same time, environmental standards should not be used as protectionist purposes.

The two sides also agreed to strengthen cooperation to promote the dissemination of environmentally friendly goods, services and technologies.

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< < > > P > the intellectual property section of the agreement mainly includes general principles, copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial designs, genetic resources and traditional knowledge, new varieties of plants, undisclosed information, geographical indications, law enforcement (including criminal, civil and border measures, etc.), origin and country name and so on.

In the China free trade agreement signed by foreign businessmen, the agreement clearly specified the specific rights and obligations of intellectual property protection for the first time. It broke through the practice that the chapter on intellectual property rights of our FTA only contained declarative clauses such as principle clauses and cooperation, and enhanced the pparency and convenience of the protection of the rights holders.

This fully demonstrates the positive and open attitude of the Chinese side in strengthening the protection of intellectual property rights.

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< p > Q: what are the provisions of the agreement in terms of economic and technological cooperation? < /p >

< p > A: in order to enhance practical cooperation between the two sides in the fields of industry and sustainable development, China and Switzerland have also set up the chapter on "economic and technological cooperation" in the agreement.

At the same time, in order to better carry out specific cooperation, China and Switzerland have signed a subsidiary agreement "economic and technical cooperation work plan" outside the "agreement", and specified the specific areas and contents of cooperation in detail.

Specifically, the two sides agreed to conduct extensive and in-depth cooperation in such areas as sustainable development, government procurement, labor and employment, horological, health, film, tourism, Chinese medicine, quality supervision, inspection and quarantine, and intellectual property rights, and promised to consider the different levels of social and economic development of the two sides in cooperation.

This is the first time China has made detailed provisions on the area of economic and technological cooperation and specific ways of cooperation in the FTA, which is conducive to the complementary advantages of both industries and the upgrading of industrial competitiveness.

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< p > for example, clock cooperation, the two sides agreed to set up a clocks cooperative working group under the framework of the Sino Swiss joint economic and Trade Commission, and signed the memorandum of understanding in May 24, 2013.

The task of this working group is to carry out improvement and after-sales service in the clock industry, to strengthen the inspection and testing ability of Chinese horological watches, to set up training schools for clock and watch, to watch and produce, and to protect intellectual property rights.

The establishment of the working group helps to promote the docking of the two industries, enhance the capability of production, inspection and maintenance, and international competitiveness of China's watch industry, and achieve common development.

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< p > Q: has the text of the agreement been published? When will the agreement come into effect? < /p >

< p > A: the body and annexes of the agreement, including Chinese, English and French versions, have been published.

You can login and download the "China free trade area service network".

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< p > with regard to the effective time, according to the relevant provisions of the agreement, the agreement will enter into force on the first day of the third months after the completion of the respective legal procedures between the two sides.

At present, the two sides are pressing ahead with their respective domestic legal procedures, so that the agreement will come into force at an early date and push bilateral economic and trade relations to a new level, so that both the people and enterprises of the two countries will benefit from it as soon as possible.

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