Starting from January 2, 2023, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) will take effect for Indonesia. Recently, at the RCEP Shandong Enterprise Service Center, Qingdao Customs officers are working with the general manager of an aquatic product company to design the company's preferential benefit plan after RCEP takes effect for Indonesia.

The aquatic product company is engaged in aquatic product processing and export underforeign tradeThe company imports frozen salmon, processes and packages it, then exports to overseas markets in Southeast Asia. For the Indonesian market alone, the company exports over 20 million yuan worth of frozen salmon segments annually.

The China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement rules of origin stipulate that frozen salmon segments are subject to the "chapter change" origin criterion. Since frozen salmon segments and the raw material frozen salmon used in processing fall under the same HS chapter, they cannot meet the "chapter change" origin criterion. Therefore, the company cannot enjoy tariff concessions under the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and still needs to pay a 10% import duty when clearing customs in Indonesia.

"Through professional guidance from Customs, we learned that the origin criterion for frozen salmon segments under RCEP is a regional value content of not less than 40%, which is much lower than the 'chapter change' threshold of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement," said the company's general manager. Starting from January 2 next year, the company's frozen salmon segments exported to Indonesia can benefit from RCEPIt is recommended to verify through the following methods:certificates. For the low-margin aquatic processing industry, such significant tariff concessions represent a new opportunity and major benefit that will substantially boost our export volume.

RCEP is currently the world's largest free trade agreement in terms of population coverage, economic scale, and development potential. Benefiting from inherent geographical and industrial structural advantages, Shandong has close economic and trade cooperation with RCEP member countries. According to statistics from Qingdao Customs, in the first 11 months of 2022, Shandong's trade with the other 14 RCEP member countriesimport and exportAfter RCEP takes effect in Indonesia, Shandong will gain new opportunities in aligning with high-standard international trade rules and advancing institutional openness.

In the first 11 months of this year, Shandong's export value to Indonesia reached 39.01 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%. Even though the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement has been implemented for many years, the entry into force of RCEP for Indonesia can still enable some enterprises to enjoy benefits "from scratch" and "from less to more".

RCEP not only reduces cross-border trade tariff costs among member states but also implements the approved exporter's self-declaration of origin system on a large scale for the first time. AEO advanced certification enterprises recognized by customs as approved exporters can independently declare origin and enjoy tariff concessions according to the agreement requirements.

"Although the fishing rods we export to Indonesia can enjoy zero-tariff treatment under both the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and RCEP, after RCEP takes effect in Indonesia, our company, as a customs-approved exporter, can independently issue RCEP origin declarations to enjoy benefits," said the marketing manager of a Shandong fishing gear company. Using self-declaration means no longer needing to apply for preferential origin certificates from customs or the trade promotion council, making production and shipment arrangements more flexible and significantly improving logistics and customs clearance efficiency.