In that view, the primary emphasis in regional integration is on trade liberalization, involving across the board removal of tariffs through the formation of a free trade area or customs union.

Such tariff barriers and non tariff barriers (NTBs) can be very high in specific product areas, making it extremely difficult for exporters to penetrate markets.

OFIDA conducts physical verifications of goods in the parts of the country controlled by the Government but is unable to do so in the eastern areas.

1. Taxation and customs

(a) Substantial reductions of tariffs, the rolling back of tariff peaks and the removal of tariff escalation

Table 2a Types of NTBs applied by region (1994)

Table 2b Types of NTBs applied by region (2004)

Office des douanes et accises

The tax authorities in the comprehensive pilot regions would strengthen the tax exemption management for export goods based on the electronic information on export goods declaration provided by the State Administration of Taxation.

The markets of industrialized countries are blocked by protectionist tariffs and by non tariff barriers, which impede access to them by the rest of the world.

As a result of successive rounds of multilateral trade negotiations, as well as regional trade agreements and autonomous tariff reduction initiatives, tariffs are continuously being lowered.

Market access Tariffs and non tariff barriers

Extensive negotiations are expected on the number of tariff bands, the criteria for setting such tariff bands and the modalities for reducing tariffs in each band.

Temporary tariff rate may be applied to imported goods within a specified period of time.

3. import duties and domestic taxes.

Contractual tariff rate is applicable to imported goods originated from countries or regions with which the People's Republic of China has signed regional treatment agreements containing provisions of preferential tariff rates.

Calculating formula for ad valorem is duty payable customs value x tariff rate

Export duties are not included in the customs value.

Chow Kwong (Hong Kong), Customs and Excise Department

In many cases, processing industries have, however, access to zero or low duty imports of their raw materials under tariff quotas or autonomous tariff suspensions.

Head, Division of International Taxation, Department of Tax and Custom Duties Policy, Ministry of Finance.

This drop in revenues may be worsened by the amendments to the laws on free zones, value added tax and income tax adopted in 1997 and 1998, which together have eroded the tax base.

For import goods subject to TRQ administration as specified by the State, the TRQ rate will be applied within the tariff rate quota, and the provisions of article 10 and 11 of this set of regulations shall come into play in terms of the application of tariff rate of imported goods going beyond the tariff rate quota allowed.

salmon from Iceland, from 10 12 and

In application of the agricultural safeguard clause, the US tariff specifies additional duties so that imports above the tariff quotas are subject to progressively higher tariff rates the lower the actual export price.

Meanwhile, with the reduction of general tariff level, especially the import tariff reduction of medicine and consumer goods, the taxable items and tax rate for import tax on imported goods would be reduced accordingly.

In addition, their residents enjoy income tax reductions amounting to 15 20 per cent, as opposed to 3 7 per cent in other development areas.

All items should be exempt from tax and customs duty.

In cases where any country or region violates the provisions of trade agreements and related legal instruments signed with China or to which it and China are parties by adopting prohibitive, restrictive or levying extra tariff duties or other measures affecting normal trade against the People's Republic of China, retaliatory customs duties may be levied on imported goods originated from the said country or region and the retaliatory tariff rate will be used.

The notice pointed out that for goods that have not obtained valid stock certificates for e commerce export enterprises in the comprehensive experimental area and meet the relevant conditions, the VAT and consumption tax exemption policies will be trialled.

In cases where a customs clearing company accepts the commission of a taxpayer and handles formalities related to the customs clearing and duty payment in its own name, it is held liable for duty payment together with the taxpayer.

Regarding tariff barriers, a number of products of export interest to developing countries remain subject to peak rates and tariff escalation in various markets (see box on peak tariffs).

Previous position include Regional Director, Regional Directorate Director for Information Technology, Directorate of Tax Information Executive Secretary, National Tax Court and head of district, District Tax Office, Jakarta.

Overall, NTBs have almost replaced tariff barriers in manufacturing sectors.

The GSP rate is half of the MFN rates and subject to tariff quotas.

II. TARIFF PEAKS

III. TARIFF ESCALATION

It is incumbent upon the Directorate General of Customs and Special Taxes on the Consumption (DGAIEC) The Portuguese Board of Customs Ministry of Finance.

Customs duties on imported articles and import links taxes levied by the customs on the behalf of others are combined into import duties and will be levied by the customs in accordance with the law.

Measures governing goods subject to retaliatory customs duties, country or region of application, tariff rate, period, and method of levy shall be determined and published by the State Council Tariffs Commission.

Tariffication of former quantitative restrictions, levies and similar non tariff protection measures resulted in extremely high rates exceeding in most cases 30 per cent and reaching up to 30 per cent and more for MFN trade above tariff quotas (see table 9).

With the reduction in tariffs, non tariff barriers are increasingly becoming front stage market access concerns.

For imported articles for which the State Council Tariffs Commission specifies that duties, subject to goods, are applied, customs duties shall be levied in line with the provisions of Chapters two to four of this set of regulations.

A problem in carrying out a study of peak tariffs is that a substantial proportion of peak tariffs are specific rates or combined rates.

Several cases were mentioned where customs modernization had a significant positive impact on revenue collection. In fact, even in cases where tariff rates have been reduced, customs automation has more than offset the losses from these reductions, leading to an overall increase in duties collected.