The Shenzhen Service Center of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) was inaugurated Monday, with five government departments and institutions signing a memorandum of understanding at the ceremony.
The service center was jointly established by the Shenzhen Municipal Commerce Bureau, Shenzhen Customs, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Shenzhen Municipal Committee, Shenzhen Municipal Justice Bureau and Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration.
The newly inaugurated institution integrates the five parties’ resources to provide one-stop public services for enterprises, such as the policy releases, publicity and training, foreign legal services, as well as investigation and research programs.
It is committed to helping companies fully utilize the RCEP agreement’s advantages, become familiar with tariff concessions and trade facilitation measures for participating countries, make good use of the cumulation provisions of the rules of origin, and explore new trade and investment opportunities.
Since the RCEP agreement went into force Jan. 1, 2022, Shenzhen-based corporations have enjoyed its benefits. Between January and May this year, the city’s imports and exports to RCEP members amounted to 353.94 billion yuan (US$52.64 billion), up by 1.2% year on year. Exports reached 123.77 billion yuan, up by 11.4%, while imports stood at 182.52 billion yuan.
During the period, Shenzhen issued 8,380 RCEP certificates of origin, with tariff reductions of 82 million yuan for exports worth 2.3 billion yuan, and tariff cuts of over 30 million yuan for imports worth 570 million yuan.
In one case, Zobele Instrument (Shenzhen) Co., specializing in exporting car fragrance diffusers to Japan, had nearly 70,000 yuan worth of its tariffs cut in the first quarter of the year, as RCEP had lowered the duty rate of imported products to Japan from 3.9% to 3.5% for its member countries. The company is expected to enjoy 1 million yuan in tariff reduction for the whole year.