The coexistence of advantages and disadvantages is one of the remarkable features of China's mineral resources. Affected by the endowment of mineral resources and the characteristics of the resource industry structure and other factors, China's resource products trade polarization phenomenon is more obvious, the trade structure of the problem is prominent: on the one hand, the shortage of minerals shortage of a larger scale, the need for a large number of imports; on the other hand, some of the advantageous minerals and the "two high and one capital" products are still in the scale of the export, and triggered the low-end industry duplication construction. Industry duplication, not conducive to sustainable and healthy socio-economic development. To this end, we must make good use of import and export tariffs and related policies to promote the structural transformation of trade in resource products.
One, resource products tariffs
(a) import tariffs
From the accession to the WTO (World Trade Organization), China's most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rate on imported goods has been substantially adjusted downward. 2002 resource products import tariffs of the most-favored-nation (MFN) average tariff rate of 7.48%, compared with the 2001 before accession to the WTO by 1.6 percent, or up to 17.62%, and later on the average tariff rate of the most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rate of 7.48%, compared with 2001 before accession to the WTO, or 1.6 percent, or 17.62%. The average import tariff rate of resource products in 2010 was 6.19%, basically the same as the previous year, which indicates that the overall level of import tariffs on resource products in China tends to be stable, and in the future only need to make case-by-case adjustments to the import tariff rates of some products according to the changes in the situation.
Figure 22 Changes in Import Tariff Rates of Resource Products from 1996 to 2010
Based on the relationship between resource endowment and supply and demand, the import tariff rates of various resource products will change every year. In order to facilitate comparative analysis, we distinguish them into 9 categories (Table 5) according to the mineral products covered by the tariff schedule (including primary processed products), such as fuel minerals, metal ores and waste fractions, metal raw materials, and so on.
Table 5 Statistics on Most Favored Import Duty Rates for Resource Products from 2002 to 2010 Unit:%
Continued Table
Source:Chinese People's Republic of China*** and the State Customs Import and Export Tariffs, 2002-2010
In general, the level of import duty rates for metallic mineral sands and fertilizers has remained unchanged in recent years because the duty rates for this category of commodities are already very Low, little room for further reduction; metal raw materials, non-metallic mineral raw materials, inorganic chemicals, organic chemicals, the average tariff level is generally higher than the average level of mineral products, some of which still have some room for downward adjustment of the tax rate; fuels, non-metallic products, gems and precious metal jewelry import tariffs, although by a number of downward adjustments, but the current level of the tax rate is still on the high side, there is still room for downward adjustments. Room for downward adjustment.
The basic idea of the implementation of import tariff policy is: for the domestic demand is large, and at present temporarily unable to produce or production can not meet the demand for some of the products, in order to ensure the timely supply of these raw materials, the State, in principle, to take the form of temporary tariffs, once a year to finalize the State adjusted the tentative rate of import tariffs for 619 kinds of commodities in 2010, which involves a greater number of types of resource products, some of which are listed below. In 2010, the State adjusted the provisional import tariff rates of 619 commodities, among which there are many kinds of resource products, and the following lists the provisional import tariff rates of some more important resource products (Table 6).
Table 6: Comparison between the provisional import tariff rate and the most-favored-nation (MFN) tariff rate of some resource products Unit: %
Continued
Source: Customs Import and Export Tariff Rules of the People's Republic of China, 2009-2010
Compared with 2009, according to the supply and demand of resource products, the provisional import tariff rate of most of them will be stabilized in 2010 under the condition of relatively stable import tariff rate. In 2010, the temporary import tariff rate for some products, such as unrefined copper and sulfur, was abolished under the condition of relative stability of the tariff rate; according to the situation of industrial development, in order to safeguard the supply of some resource products in short supply and to promote the healthy development of the relevant industries, the annual temporary import tariff exemption and preferential policy was still implemented for some smelting intermediate products and waste scrap (e.g., intermediate products of nickel hydrometallurgy and waste scrap with the platinum content of more than 3%, etc.). ). In short, according to the supply and demand situation of resource products and the development of related industries, the adoption of temporary import tariff rates has considerable flexibility and ease of operation, successfully realizing the stability of tariff policy and the flexibility to deal with the case-by-case situation of the organic combination.
(II) Export Tariffs
China's foreign trade policy is to encourage exports in general, so there are no export tariffs on the export of general commodities. However, in order to control the export of some commodities whose domestic supply is insufficient or whose export is excessive and needs to be controlled in total, the State sets export tariffs on some products as appropriate, thereby increasing the cost of exporting the products and weakening their competitiveness in the market, so as to achieve the purpose of restricting exports.In 2010, our country*** levied export tariffs on the export of 301 kinds of commodities and implemented a provisional tariff rate, which involves Resource products mainly include raw minerals, mineral ores and some primary smelting products.
Compared with 2009, according to the supply and demand situation of resource products and taking into account the actual needs of macro-control, in 2010, while ensuring the relative stability of the provisional export tariff rates of most of the resource products, the provisional export tariff rates of some commodities were adjusted downward, such as tungstic acid, tungsten trioxide, etc., which reflected the superiority of the provisional export tariff rates in responding to the changes in the market in a flexible manner.
Tariffs and related policies
Based on the domestic resource endowment and the needs of socio-economic development, to promote the structural transformation of the trade in resource products, the task in front of us is twofold: one is to provide a more liberal environment to encourage the import of resource products in short supply; on the other hand, it is to strictly control the scale of export of the "two highs and one capital" products through various possible ways. The other is to strictly control the scale of export of "two high and one capital" products through various possible ways. To this end, we must make good use of import and export tariffs and related policies to promote the transformation of resource products trade services.
(A) tariff policy
A country to implement what kind of tariff policy, not based on people's subjective desire to arbitrarily formulate, but by the objective factors. China's tariff policy is the idea of: domestic production can not meet the demand for essential goods related to national livelihood, tax exemption or low tax; raw materials import tax rate is generally lower than the rate of semi-manufactured goods or manufactured goods; domestic production or quality can not produce machinery and equipment and instruments, instruments, parts and accessories of the implementation of the tax rate is lower than the implementation of the tax rate of the whole machine; on the domestic production of their own or non-national livelihood of products The implementation of the higher tax rate; for domestic production, but the domestic industry of the same kind and need to protect the products of higher tax rates; the need to restrict the export of products subject to export tariffs, depending on the circumstances of the implementation of the annual temporary tax rates.
1. Export tariffs
Theoretically, the range of tariffs levied on exported products cannot break through the scope of commitments in Annex 6 of the Protocol of Accession of China, which is the general principle of the adjustment of export tariff policy. In fact, for the control of the "two high and one capital" product exports of the actual needs of the current export tariffs have been imposed on the export of hundreds of resource products, greatly exceeding the scope of the specific commitments of the WTO accession, making the export tariffs policy is very risky. 2009 June, the United States, the European **** body of the raw material export restrictions on the issue of raw materials submitted to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism in China. Submitted to the WTO dispute settlement mechanism under the consultation request is a typical case. Therefore, the current export tariff violations in the field of resource products in China are relatively serious, and there is an urgent need to make adjustments in a planned manner so that it can be better integrated into the WTO rules system.
From the practice at home and abroad, it is not realistic to achieve complete non-compliance, the key is to grasp the degree, and at the same time actively and conscientiously do a good job to deal with disputes, and even to deal with the litigation, as far as possible, for the policy to fight for a certain period of time for the implementation of the policy in order to take advantage of the time to improve the quality of domestic economic development. In practice, China's resource-based products export tariff policy adjustments are mainly of two types: one is in line with the "China's accession to the Protocol" in Annex 6 of the product export tariff adjustments, the other is not in line with the "China's accession to the Protocol" in Annex 6 of the product export tariff adjustments. For these two types of problems, there are two ideas for the adjustment of tariff policy for export products:
(1) Products in conformity with Annex 6 of the Protocol on China's accession. For this category of products, we can impose export tariffs to limit exports according to the actual situation, but the prerequisite is not to break the upper limit of the scope of commitments, or need to obtain the relevant licenses.
(2) Products not in conformity with Annex 6 of the Protocol of Accession of China. For such products, in principle, export tariffs can not be imposed, but there is an exception in the WTO rules, which is mainly reflected in Article 20 (g) of GATT 1994: In order to protect natural resources that may be exhausted, exports may be appropriately restricted, but domestic production and consumption must be similarly restricted. In other words, as long as we are prepared to limit production and consumption domestically, we can still use traditional export management tools to manage excessive exports. Currently, in the resource sector, these production and consumption restriction measures mainly include raising the threshold of industry access or environmental standards, enforcing the relevant total production control targets, suspending the issuance of mining licenses, raising the relevant taxes and fees, and specifying the relevant production restriction measures in the planning or administrative approvals. Under the condition of taking relevant measures to restrict production and consumption domestically, according to the degree of need to restrict exports, differentiated export tariff levels can be adopted for different products for the purpose of restricting export management.
In practice, the focus of attention of member states is generally the export management of other countries' advantageous resources. In our country, our advantageous resources are mainly tungsten, antimony, rare earths, fluorite and high alumina bauxite and other resources. 2009, our tungsten, rare earths and other resource-based products also added export tariffs, but not included in the scope of the lawsuit, which is mainly engaged in the domestic production of the total production control and the suspension of mining licenses, and a series of production restriction measures are closely related.
2. Import tariffs
In the era of tightening resource supply, countries around the world, especially resource-poor countries, generally encourage imports to meet domestic consumption needs. According to the WTO rules, import tariffs should be in accordance with the tariff reduction schedule of the WTO accession commitments, and gradually tariff concessions. In the field of mineral resources, especially for the bulk shortage of minerals, for many years China has implemented a zero tariff import policy to encourage resource imports. Considering that the pressure of oversupply of bulk minerals such as oil, iron and copper in China will exist for a long time, thus the main objectives of the import tariff policy are: for the existing zero-tariff products, continue to implement the zero-tariff policy to provide incentives to promote resource imports and service support; for the non-zero-tariff primary products capable of substituting for the resources, we should actively reduce their import tariffs, and do our best to alleviate the pressure on the domestic supply through imports.
(2) Import VAT Policy
Import VAT refers to the value-added tax (VAT) paid on the turnover (or value-added) of the goods and articles that are allowed to enter the territory of a country. According to the relevant theoretical analysis in international economics, the optimal tax rate of the importing country should be chosen between [0, 1], and in general the smaller the tax rate, the better. According to this conclusion, considering that minerals such as petroleum, iron, manganese, chromium, copper, aluminum and other minerals are the minerals that are in short supply in our country at present, and zero tariff policy has been implemented on their imports, the incentive effect on imports has failed. In order to tap the import potential of these shortages of resource products and reduce the cost pressure on the development of downstream industries, it is necessary to appropriately adjust their import link value-added tax (VAT), so that the preferential import link VAT policy can stimulate the shortage of mineral imports to produce a promotional effect, only for different mineral products should be treated differently:
(1) It is recommended that the implementation of bulk products such as petroleum, iron, copper, potash and so on. Exemption or immediate refund of import VAT preferential policies. Petroleum, iron, copper, potash for the national economic development needs of the bulk minerals, its price rise will inevitably cause the price of the final finished products, which may indirectly trigger cost-push inflation. Therefore, in order to encourage the import of these resources and ease the pressure of domestic regulation, it is recommended that their imports be exempted or immediate refund of import VAT preferential policies.
(2) It is suggested to implement 5% import link VAT preferential policy for manganese, chromium, aluminum and cobalt products. Manganese, chromium, aluminum, cobalt and other minerals belong to both strategic minerals, and at the same time belong to the shortage of minerals, but its use is not as large as the amount of petroleum, iron, copper, the impact on the development of downstream industries is relatively limited. Due to the domestic shortage of these resources, the development of the extraction industry is limited, and thus it is recommended that a 5% preferential policy on import VAT be implemented for manganese, chromium, aluminum, cobalt and other products.
(C) Export tax rebate policy
Export tax rebate refers to a policy in which the state returns the VAT levied on exported products to the enterprises, reduces the cost of the exported products, and promotes the export of the products. The World Trade Organization does not have a clear provision on the export tax rebate policy of each country, so the export tax rebate has become a practice in international trade and is an important means for the state to support foreign trade and export. According to the requirements of WTO rules, each member country can implement tax rebate for its own export products, but the maximum limit of tax rebate can not exceed the tax that has been levied on the export products in the country. Within this scope, member states determine the appropriate level of export tax rebate according to their own economic development needs and national financial capacity.
Currently, China's policy of restricting the export of "two high and one capital" products has not yet been loosened, and guaranteeing the priority supply of resources to the domestic market and promoting the transformation of resource advantages into economic advantages is still one of the core objectives of resource management. Therefore, according to the basic principles of resource export management policy, it is recommended to continue to implement the abolition of the export tax rebate system for raw ores and concentrates; for high-purity metal smelting products, according to their technical content and value-added, in the case of not exporting in excess of the amount of resources lost, we can consider the implementation of the policy of a low tax rebate rate.
(IV) Export Quantity Restriction Policy
The so-called quantity restriction refers to the trade of certain specific commodities or labor services, which is strictly limited to a certain price or quantity within a certain period of time. Quantitative restrictive measures and tariffs can both have a hindering effect on the import and export of goods, but the nature and extent of their effects are not the same. From the economic point of view, tariffs only distort the role of the market mechanism, while quantitative restrictions fundamentally cut off the link between the domestic market and the international market, to limit the import and export can produce obvious results. Thus, in practice, the quantitative restrictions of this wall can not be completely dismantled or prohibited. Taking into account the WTO rules system of quantitative restrictions on the existence of the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of exception, the appropriate use of it can be for the management of import and export trade services; otherwise, it will enhance the policy risk. Therefore, the quantitative restriction and quota policy should be studied appropriately.
1. General Rules of Quantitative Restrictions
Because quantitative restrictive measures play a more serious role than tariffs in hindering the world free trade, both the original GATT and the present World Trade Organization have taken a general prohibitive stance on them. Article XI of the GATT is entitled "General Abolition of Quantitative Restrictions" and states in its first paragraph: "No Contracting Party shall establish or maintain quotas, import or export licenses, or other measures restricting or prohibiting the importation or exportation of products from or to the territories of the other Contracting Parties, except through the imposition of taxes or other charges". importation of products from, or exportation or sale of products for export to, the territories of the other Contracting Parties." This is the first time that an international multilateral convention has explicitly declared a general prohibition and eliminated quantitative restrictions.
Although GATT1994 explicitly advocates the elimination of quantitative restrictions, in view of the fact that quantitative restrictions have been adopted by many countries and that there are many reasons for their imposition, as a result of compromise, Articles 12, 13, 18 and 19 of GATT1994 specifically stipulate the scope and conditions under which contracting parties may impose quantitative restrictions; Article 13, in particular, provides that The application of quantitative restrictions must be in accordance with the principle of non-discrimination, stipulating that "no Contracting State shall restrict or prohibit the importation of products into the territory of another Contracting State or prohibit or restrict the exportation of products to the territory of another Contracting State unless the importation of the same products into, or the exportation of the same products to, all third countries is similarly prohibited or restricted". ". Of course, there are exceptions to the principle of quantitative restrictions on exports, and its core points are also mainly reflected in paragraph (g) of Article 20 of GATT1994, and quantitative restrictive measures can also be taken on the export of raw materials in compliance with the requirements of paragraph (g) of Article 20 of GATT1994.
2. Policies and Problems of Quantitative Restrictions on Exports of China's Products
The quantitative restrictions on exports are mainly reflected in quotas. Quota refers to a country's government in a certain period of time on the import or export of certain sensitive commodities in quantity or amount of control, the purpose of which is aimed at adjusting the balance of payments and protection of domestic industrial and agricultural production. At present, based on the endowment of mineral resources and the actual supply and demand relationship, on resource products, our country in principle tends to restrict exports; especially for advantageous resource products, our country has been through the quota, the implementation of the corresponding export quantity restriction measures. For example, in 2009, China's exports of bauxite, fluorite and other resource products to take the quota bidding management of restrictive measures; 2010 continue to rare earths and other products exported to the implementation of the export quantitative management system.
The implementation of export quantity management although can achieve relatively obvious results, but must be docked with the WTO rules. Currently, China's implementation of raw material export restrictions on the basis of the domestic basic law is the April 2004 revision of the "People's Republic of China **** and the State Foreign Trade Law," Article 16, which specifies a shortage of domestic supply or for the effective protection of natural resources that may be depleted, can be restricted or banned from exporting. However, a comparison of this provision with the legal conditions for the implementation of restrictions on the import and export of resources as set forth in Article 20(g) of GATT 1994 reveals that China's conditions on restrictive measures on the import and export of resources are correspondingly broader, in particular, there is no requirement that they be implemented concurrently with measures restricting domestic production or consumption, and there is no preamble corresponding to the preamble to Article 20 of GATT 1994 that "There is also no provision corresponding to the preamble of Article 20 of GATT 1994, which prohibits arbitrary, unjustified discrimination or disguised restrictions on international trade. Such provisions may not only lead to China's implementation of resource restrictions on specific administrative measures in conflict with the WTO rules, but also may become the basis for China's violation of WTO accession commitments. 2009 U.S. and European complaints against China's raw material export restrictions is a typical example.
3. Suggestions on the policy of limiting the export quantity of resource products
The export quantity limitation through quota is a powerful measure to control the excessive export of resource products. Combined with the current policy of export quantitative restrictions on resource products in China and its problems, from the perspective of more conducive to the implementation of this policy and promote the integration of WTO rules system, we put forward the following suggestions:
(1) for the need to implement the system of export quantitative management of the product, we must be based on the GATT 1994 Article 20 (g) as a guideline for the implementation of the domestic restrictions on the production and consumption of specific measures in advance. Specific measures should be implemented in advance to limit production and consumption in the country. For example, the implementation of total production control, stop issuing mining licenses and other policies.
(2) Comply with the non-discriminatory principle of GATT1994 to achieve consistency in the qualification conditions for domestic and foreign-funded enterprises in the bidding for export quotas, and to realize the national treatment of foreign-funded enterprises in the bidding qualification.
(3) Revise the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China*** and the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China, as well as the normative documents or announcements issued by some ministries and commissions, so as to make them consistent with the requirements of the WTO rules.
(4) Quota and export quantity management policies should be treated differently. The lower the value-added products, the export quota tends to reduce; value-added products relatively high, the allocation of export quotas should be appropriately taken care of, to map out the total export control and export product structure adjustment policy signals.
Third, the policy trend
In favor of improving the ability to secure the supply of resources at the same time, in order to reduce the pressure of energy saving and emission reduction and the implementation of the major initiatives to limit the export of "two high and one capital" products, on the use of foreign iron ore, crude oil, alumina and other shortages of resource products, it is desirable to provide a liberal import policy environment; at the same time, to take advantage of the WTO rules, the export quota allocation should be appropriate care. At the same time, to make good use of the WTO rules, resolutely limit the "two high and one capital" product scale exports. According to China's resource situation, and actively promote the reform of import and export trade policy of resource products, and strive to establish in the field of resources, "wide in and out" of the import and export trade policy system.