Since January 1 of this year, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) has officially entered into force, which has been two months so far. The latest data shows that Qingdao Customs issued RCEP certificates of origin for 7034 batches of exported goods. Import and export goods worth 2.37 billion RMB enjoyed benefits with other RCEP member countries. The relevant enterprises can enjoy 25.626 million RMB of RCEP tariff concessions from domestic customs and customs of export destination countries. A total of 23 approved exporters were identified, and the relevant enterprises issued RCEP certificates of origin independently for 290 batches of export goods, and the value of goods enjoying benefits amounted to 140 million RMB.

"RCEP has improved the competitiveness of China's agricultural products, chemicals, textile and garment as well as plastic products industries in Japan and South Korea, and reduced the import costs of biotechnology, new materials and equipment manufacturing." Zhao Guangying, chief of the Origin Administration Section of Qingdao Customs Tariff Office, said that thanks to the location advantage and product structure, Shandong's import and export enterprises to Japan and South Korea have benefited significantly.

RCEP tariff concessions not only reduced the cost of imports of foreign trade enterprises, enhanced the competitiveness of export products, but also prompted the transformation and upgrading of processing trade enterprises to Japan and South Korea.

"Through data analysis, we found that some enterprises’ imports from Japan such as machinery equipment and spare parts have not yet enjoyed tariff concessions through the application of the RCEP agreement tariff rate. It is recommended that foreign trade enterprises strengthen the study of the RCEP tariff policy, compare the tariff rates with China-South Korea, China-ASEAN and other free trade agreements in order to choose the right free trade agreement for the certificate to enjoy the benefits." Zhao Guangying said.