Bilateral Agreement
TheAgreement would eliminate barriers and increase access for U.S. exports across a broad range of commodities. Commitments include:
Establishment of a tariff-rate quota system for imports of bulk commodities, e.g., wheat, corn, cotton, barley, and rice, that provides a share of the TRQ for private traders. Specific rules on how the TRQ will operate and increased transparency in the process will help ensure that imports occur. Significant and growing quota quantities subject to tariffs that average between 1-3 percent.Immediate elimination of the tariff-rate quota system for barley, peanut oil, sunflower-seed oil, cottonseed oil, and a phase-out for soybean oil.Significant cuts in tariffs that will be completed by January 2004. Overall average for agricultural products will be 17.5 percent and for U.S. priority products 14 percent (down from 31 percent).Theright to import and distribute products without going through a state-trading enterprise or middleman.Elimination of export subsidies on agricultural products.China has also agreed to the elimination of SPS barriers that are not based on scientific evidence.TARIFFSTariffs cut from an average of 24.6 percent to an average of 9.4 percent overall and 7.1 percent on U.S. priority products.China will participate in the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and eliminate all tariffs on products such as computers, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, computer equipment, and other high-technology products.In the wood and paper sectors, tariffs will drop from present levels of 12?18% on wood and 15-25% on paper down to levels generally between 5% and 7.5%.China will also be implementing the vast majority of the chemical harmonization initiative. Under that initiative, tariffs will be at 0, 5.5 and 6.5 percent for products in each category.In the auto sector, China will cut tariffs from the current 80-100% level to 25% by mid-2006, with the largest cuts in the first years after accession.Auto parts tariffs will be cut to an average of 10% by mid-2006.ELIMINATION OF QUOTAS AND LICENSESWTO rules bar quotas and other quantitative restrictions. China has agreed to eliminate these restrictions with phase-ins limited to five years.Quotas: American will eliminate existing quotas upon accession for the top U.S. priorities (e.g. optic fiber cable). It will phase out remaining quotas, generally by 2002, but no later than 2005.
Auto quotas will be phased out by 2005. In the interim, the base-level quota will be $6 billion (the level prior to China's auto industrial policy), and this will grow by 15% annually until elimination.
Quotas will grow from current trade levels at a 15% annual rate in order to ensure that market access increases progressively.TO SERVICESChina has made commitments to phase out most restrictions in a broad range of services sectors, including distribution, banking, insurance, telecommunications, professional services such as accountancy and legal consulting, business and computer related services, motion pictures and video and sound recording services. China will also participate in the Basic Telecommunications and Financial Services Agreements.
DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICESChina generally prohibits foreign firms from distributing products other than those they make in China, or from controlling their own distribution networks. Under the Agreement, China has agreed to liberalize wholesaling and retailing services for most products, including imported goods, throughout China in three years. In addition, China has agreed to open up the logistical chain of related services such as maintenance and repair, storage and warehousing , packaging, advertising, trucking and air express services, marketing, and customer support in three to four years.TELECOMMUNICATIONSChina now prohibits foreign investment in telecommunications services. For the first time, China has agreed to permit direct investment in telecommunications businesses. China will also participate in the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. Specific commitments include:Regulatory Principles ?- China has agreed to implement the pro?competitive regulatory principles embodied in the Basic Telecommunications Agreement (including interconnection rights and independent regulatory authority) and will allow foreign suppliers to use any technology they choose to provide telecommunications services.China will gradually phase out all geographic restrictions for paging and value-added services in two years, mobile voice and data services in five years, and domestic and international services in six years.China will permit 49percent foreign equity share for value-added and paging services two years after accession, 50 percent foreign equity share for mobile voice and data services five years after accession, and for domestic and international services six years after accession.
China agreed to award licenses solely on the basis of prudential criteria, with no economic-needs test or quantitative limits on the number of licenses issued.China will progressively eliminate all geographic limitations within 3 years. Internal branching will be permitted consistent with the elimination of these restrictions.China will expand the scope of activities for foreign insurers to include group, health and pension lines of insurance, phased in over 5 years. Foreign property and casualty firms will be able to insure large-scale commercial risks nationwide immediately upon accession.China agreed to allow 49 percent ownership for life insurance. Life insurers may also choose their own joint venture partners. For non-life, China will allow branching or 50 percent ownership on accession and wholly owned subsidiaries in 2 years. Reinsurance is completely open upon accession (100 percent, no restrictions).SECURITIESChina will permit minority foreign-owned joint ventures to engage in fund management on the same terms as Chinese firms. By three years after accession, foreign ownership of these joint ventures will be allowed to rise to 49 percent. As the scope of business expands for Chinese firms, foreign joint venture securities companies will enjoy the same expansion in scope of business. In addition, 33 percent foreign?owned joint ventures will be allowed to underwrite domestic equity issues and underwrite and trade in international equity and all corporate and government debt issues.MOTION PICTURES, VIDEOS, SOUND RECORDINGSChina will allow the 20 films to be imported on a revenue-sharing basis in each of the 3 years after accession. U.S. firms can form joint ventures to distribute videos, software entertainment, and sound recordings and to own and operate cinemas.
PROTOCOL PROVISIONSCommitments in China's WTO Protocol and Working Party Report establish rights and obligations enforceable through WTO dispute settlement procedures. We have agreed on key provisions relating to antidumping and subsidies, protection against import surges, technology transfer requirements, and offsets, as well as practices of state?owned and state?invested enterprises. These rules are of special importance to U.S. workers and business.China has agreed to implement the TRIMs Agreement upon accession, eliminate and cease enforcing trade and foreign exchange balancing requirements, as well as local content requirements, refuse to enforce contracts imposing these requirements, and only impose or enforce laws or other provisions relating to the transfer of technology or other know-how, if they are in accordance with the WTO agreements on protection of intellectual property rights and trade?related investment measures.These provisions will also help protect American firms against forced technology transfers. China has agreed that, upon accession, it will not condition investment approvals, import licenses, or any other import approval process on performance requirements of any kind, including: local content requirements, offsets, transfer of technology, or requirements to conduct research and development in China.ANTIDUMPING AND SUBSIDIES METHODOLOGYThe agreed protocol provisions ensure that American firms and workers will have strong protection against fair trade practices including dumping and subsidies. The U.S. and China have agreed that we will be able to maintain our current antidumping methodology (treating China as a non-market economy) in future anti-dumping cases. This provision will remain in force for 15 years after China's accession to the WTO. Moreover, when we apply our countervailing duty law to China we will be able to take the special characteristics of China's economy into account when we identify and measure any subsidy benefit that may exist.
PRODUCT-SPECIFIC SAFEGUARDThe agreed provisions for the protocol package also ensure that American domestic firms and workers will have strong protection against rapid increases of imports.To do this, the Product-Specific Safeguard provision sets up a special mechanism to address increased imports that cause or threaten to cause market disruption to a U.S. industry. This mechanism, which is in addition to other WTO Safeguards provisions, differs from traditional safeguard measures. It permits United States to address imports solely from China, rather than from the whole world, that are a significant cause of material injury through measures such as import restrictions. Moreover, the United States will be able to apply restraints unilaterally based on legal standards that differ from those in the WTO Safeguards Agreement. This could permit action in more cases. The Product-Specific Safeguard will remain in force for 13 years after China accedes to the WTO.
Protocol addresses important issues related to the Chinese government's involvement in the economy. China has agreed that it will ensure that state-owned and state-invested enterprises will make purchases and sales based solely on commercial considerations, such as price, quality, availability and marketability, and that it will provide U.S. firms with the opportunity to compete for sales and purchases on non-discriminatory terms and conditions.
Establishment of a tariff-rate quota system for imports of bulk commodities, e.g., wheat, corn, cotton, barley, and rice, that provides a share of the TRQ for private traders. Specific rules on how the TRQ will operate and increased transparency in the process will help ensure that imports occur. Significant and growing quota quantities subject to tariffs that average between 1-3 percent.Immediate elimination of the tariff-rate quota system for barley, peanut oil, sunflower-seed oil, cottonseed oil, and a phase-out for soybean oil.Significant cuts in tariffs that will be completed by January 2004. Overall average for agricultural products will be 17.5 percent and for U.S. priority products 14 percent (down from 31 percent).Theright to import and distribute products without going through a state-trading enterprise or middleman.Elimination of export subsidies on agricultural products.China has also agreed to the elimination of SPS barriers that are not based on scientific evidence.TARIFFSTariffs cut from an average of 24.6 percent to an average of 9.4 percent overall and 7.1 percent on U.S. priority products.China will participate in the Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and eliminate all tariffs on products such as computers, telecommunications equipment, semiconductors, computer equipment, and other high-technology products.In the wood and paper sectors, tariffs will drop from present levels of 12?18% on wood and 15-25% on paper down to levels generally between 5% and 7.5%.China will also be implementing the vast majority of the chemical harmonization initiative. Under that initiative, tariffs will be at 0, 5.5 and 6.5 percent for products in each category.In the auto sector, China will cut tariffs from the current 80-100% level to 25% by mid-2006, with the largest cuts in the first years after accession.Auto parts tariffs will be cut to an average of 10% by mid-2006.ELIMINATION OF QUOTAS AND LICENSESWTO rules bar quotas and other quantitative restrictions. China has agreed to eliminate these restrictions with phase-ins limited to five years.Quotas: American will eliminate existing quotas upon accession for the top U.S. priorities (e.g. optic fiber cable). It will phase out remaining quotas, generally by 2002, but no later than 2005.
Auto quotas will be phased out by 2005. In the interim, the base-level quota will be $6 billion (the level prior to China's auto industrial policy), and this will grow by 15% annually until elimination.
Quotas will grow from current trade levels at a 15% annual rate in order to ensure that market access increases progressively.TO SERVICESChina has made commitments to phase out most restrictions in a broad range of services sectors, including distribution, banking, insurance, telecommunications, professional services such as accountancy and legal consulting, business and computer related services, motion pictures and video and sound recording services. China will also participate in the Basic Telecommunications and Financial Services Agreements.
DISTRIBUTION AND SERVICESChina generally prohibits foreign firms from distributing products other than those they make in China, or from controlling their own distribution networks. Under the Agreement, China has agreed to liberalize wholesaling and retailing services for most products, including imported goods, throughout China in three years. In addition, China has agreed to open up the logistical chain of related services such as maintenance and repair, storage and warehousing , packaging, advertising, trucking and air express services, marketing, and customer support in three to four years.TELECOMMUNICATIONSChina now prohibits foreign investment in telecommunications services. For the first time, China has agreed to permit direct investment in telecommunications businesses. China will also participate in the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. Specific commitments include:Regulatory Principles ?- China has agreed to implement the pro?competitive regulatory principles embodied in the Basic Telecommunications Agreement (including interconnection rights and independent regulatory authority) and will allow foreign suppliers to use any technology they choose to provide telecommunications services.China will gradually phase out all geographic restrictions for paging and value-added services in two years, mobile voice and data services in five years, and domestic and international services in six years.China will permit 49percent foreign equity share for value-added and paging services two years after accession, 50 percent foreign equity share for mobile voice and data services five years after accession, and for domestic and international services six years after accession.
China agreed to award licenses solely on the basis of prudential criteria, with no economic-needs test or quantitative limits on the number of licenses issued.China will progressively eliminate all geographic limitations within 3 years. Internal branching will be permitted consistent with the elimination of these restrictions.China will expand the scope of activities for foreign insurers to include group, health and pension lines of insurance, phased in over 5 years. Foreign property and casualty firms will be able to insure large-scale commercial risks nationwide immediately upon accession.China agreed to allow 49 percent ownership for life insurance. Life insurers may also choose their own joint venture partners. For non-life, China will allow branching or 50 percent ownership on accession and wholly owned subsidiaries in 2 years. Reinsurance is completely open upon accession (100 percent, no restrictions).SECURITIESChina will permit minority foreign-owned joint ventures to engage in fund management on the same terms as Chinese firms. By three years after accession, foreign ownership of these joint ventures will be allowed to rise to 49 percent. As the scope of business expands for Chinese firms, foreign joint venture securities companies will enjoy the same expansion in scope of business. In addition, 33 percent foreign?owned joint ventures will be allowed to underwrite domestic equity issues and underwrite and trade in international equity and all corporate and government debt issues.MOTION PICTURES, VIDEOS, SOUND RECORDINGSChina will allow the 20 films to be imported on a revenue-sharing basis in each of the 3 years after accession. U.S. firms can form joint ventures to distribute videos, software entertainment, and sound recordings and to own and operate cinemas.
PROTOCOL PROVISIONSCommitments in China's WTO Protocol and Working Party Report establish rights and obligations enforceable through WTO dispute settlement procedures. We have agreed on key provisions relating to antidumping and subsidies, protection against import surges, technology transfer requirements, and offsets, as well as practices of state?owned and state?invested enterprises. These rules are of special importance to U.S. workers and business.China has agreed to implement the TRIMs Agreement upon accession, eliminate and cease enforcing trade and foreign exchange balancing requirements, as well as local content requirements, refuse to enforce contracts imposing these requirements, and only impose or enforce laws or other provisions relating to the transfer of technology or other know-how, if they are in accordance with the WTO agreements on protection of intellectual property rights and trade?related investment measures.These provisions will also help protect American firms against forced technology transfers. China has agreed that, upon accession, it will not condition investment approvals, import licenses, or any other import approval process on performance requirements of any kind, including: local content requirements, offsets, transfer of technology, or requirements to conduct research and development in China.ANTIDUMPING AND SUBSIDIES METHODOLOGYThe agreed protocol provisions ensure that American firms and workers will have strong protection against fair trade practices including dumping and subsidies. The U.S. and China have agreed that we will be able to maintain our current antidumping methodology (treating China as a non-market economy) in future anti-dumping cases. This provision will remain in force for 15 years after China's accession to the WTO. Moreover, when we apply our countervailing duty law to China we will be able to take the special characteristics of China's economy into account when we identify and measure any subsidy benefit that may exist.
PRODUCT-SPECIFIC SAFEGUARDThe agreed provisions for the protocol package also ensure that American domestic firms and workers will have strong protection against rapid increases of imports.To do this, the Product-Specific Safeguard provision sets up a special mechanism to address increased imports that cause or threaten to cause market disruption to a U.S. industry. This mechanism, which is in addition to other WTO Safeguards provisions, differs from traditional safeguard measures. It permits United States to address imports solely from China, rather than from the whole world, that are a significant cause of material injury through measures such as import restrictions. Moreover, the United States will be able to apply restraints unilaterally based on legal standards that differ from those in the WTO Safeguards Agreement. This could permit action in more cases. The Product-Specific Safeguard will remain in force for 13 years after China accedes to the WTO.
Protocol addresses important issues related to the Chinese government's involvement in the economy. China has agreed that it will ensure that state-owned and state-invested enterprises will make purchases and sales based solely on commercial considerations, such as price, quality, availability and marketability, and that it will provide U.S. firms with the opportunity to compete for sales and purchases on non-discriminatory terms and conditions.
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