Promote RCEP to help enterprises improve the utilization rate of free trade agreements

On May 24, sponsored by the China Council for the promotion of international trade (CCPIT) and jointly organized by the training center of the China Council for the promotion of international trade (China Chamber of Commerce) and the Zhejiang Council for the promotion of international trade, the RCEP policy interpretation of the China Council for the promotion of international trade was held in a combination of online and offline through a series of special training sessions in Zhejiang. Yu Haiyan, Vice Minister of the trade and investment promotion department and second level inspector of the China Council for the promotion of international trade, and Lin Wei, vice president of the Zhejiang Council for the promotion of international trade, attended the event and delivered a speech. Principals of Hangzhou Council for the promotion of international trade, Ningbo Council for the promotion of international trade and some enterprise representatives attended the meeting.
Zhou Mi, researcher of the Research Institute of the Ministry of Commerce and deputy director of the Institute of America and Oceania, took Japan, South Korea and Vietnam as examples, analyzed the trade and investment risks of RCEP related countries, and put forward some suggestions to enterprises, such as grasping the two-sided characteristics of the trade and investment environment, timely tracking the impact of political changes, paying attention to compliance management, focusing on territorial sea contradictions and problems, etc. Wang Linjie, director of the legal advisory office of the commercial legal service center of the China Council for the promotion of international trade, introduced the dispute settlement mechanism under the RCEP agreement, saying that the Contracting States have greater autonomy in the exclusion right of the application of the dispute settlement mechanism, the right of the prosecution to choose the place of dispute settlement, and the right to expand the application of alternative dispute settlement methods. Taking investment as an example, an investment dispute between an enterprise and the host country can request the home country to protect its rights and interests through diplomatic channels, and the home country can propose consultation or other dispute settlement mechanisms to the host country.
Wang Yakun, the Liaison Department of CCPIT, focused on new opportunities for China Japan economic and trade cooperation, such as pension services and cross-border e-commerce. In terms of cross-border e-commerce, RCEP Investment Provisions stipulate that contracting parties shall not discriminate against foreign investors and shall provide MFN treatment to contracting parties' investment, which will promote the formation of a more free and convenient environment in RCEP region and further reduce transaction barriers. Japanese e-commerce has great development potential and a large number of online shoppers. It is one of the top five retail e-commerce markets in the world. It has obvious advantages for Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises to layout overseas warehouses in Japan. According to Wang Yakun, first of all, overseas warehouses can produce goods in batches, resulting in scale effect. Secondly, the overseas warehouse can enable one-time customs clearance of goods, improve the efficiency of customs clearance and transportation, and greatly reduce the logistics cost. Thirdly, overseas warehouses can exchange space for time, avoid possible unexpected risks by preparing goods in advance, and return and exchange goods do not need to go through secondary customs clearance, cross-border logistics and other links, which is conducive to China's cross-border e-commerce enterprises in Japan to improve their after-sales service level. With the implementation of uniform rules such as rules of origin, customs procedures, inspection fatigue and technical standards, intra regional trade rules are gradually standardized and unified, which helps Chinese cross-border e-commerce enterprises build their own brands in Japan and enhance the trust of Japanese consumers in brands.
Expert representatives from the China Council for the promotion of machinery trade and the international capacity alliance of China petrochemical industry introduced the opportunities and challenges faced by the electromechanical industry and chemical industry under the background of RCEP, and put forward suggestions. RCEP has a great impact on the auto parts industry. On the one hand, RCEP tariff terms will facilitate domestic vehicle enterprises to obtain imported parts with lower prices. On the other hand, due to the reduction of tariffs, the cost of importing vehicle and parts from China by countries in the region such as Japan and South Korea will be reduced, and some orders previously belonging to North American and European countries may be transferred to China, In this way, the export trade of domestic parts will increase to a certain extent. "In fact, it is beneficial to the production of complete vehicles in Asia, promote the further optimization of the Asian automobile industry chain, and enhance the external competitiveness of member countries." Experts said.
When it comes to the petrochemical industry, experts said that with the increase of domestic labor costs, the manufacturing end of textile, light industry, building materials, toys and daily chemical products related to the petrochemical industry may flow out of China and turn to ASEAN countries. At the same time, domestic enterprises lack competitiveness in the fields of high-end refining and chemical products and fine chemical products, such as semiconductor materials, panel materials and solar cell materials. Domestic enterprises transforming to high-end should seize the time window, make good use of policy dividends, accelerate the research of core technologies, and deal with the competitive pressure of advanced technologies and high-end products in Japan and South Korea.