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¡¥Made in China¡¦ rule in spotlight
STRICTER GUIDELINES: After the latest round of
cross-strait trade talks, the complex issue of determining a product¡¦s country
of origin has become a pressing question
STAFF WRITER, WITH CNA
Monday, Apr 05, 2010, Page 3
Taiwanese-invested businesses in China will be required to label their products
as ¡§Made in China,¡¨ a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said on Saturday.
Because of the complexity of supply chains and production processes, defining a
product¡¦s country of origin is an issue Taiwan often faces after signing
free-trade agreements, MAC Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (¼B¼w¾±) said.
Discussions on the issue between China and Taiwan are expected to begin soon.
If Taiwanese companies manufacture products in China, they will have to list
China as the country of origin, although the origin of materials and components
and the nationality of the owners of the business will also be taken into
consideration, Liu said.
Some Taiwanese businesses with manufacturing interests in China hope that, under
certain conditions, they will be allowed to list their products as ¡§Made in
Taiwan.¡¨
The issue has become a pressing one because of an economic cooperation framework
agreement (ECFA) the government intends to sign with China in which products
covered under the deal¡¦s ¡§early harvest¡¨ list would qualify for tariff
reductions or exemptions ¡X as long as they are made in the two countries.
At the second round of ECFA negotiations, which concluded on Thursday,
negotiators from Taiwan and China agreed to start talks on setting guidelines to
establish products¡¦ origin.
At present, Taiwanese law defines a product¡¦s origin as the final country in
which it underwent a substantive transformation, with the value-added rate
exceeding 35 percent.
However, officials said that items included in the ECFA¡¦s ¡§early harvest¡¨ list
were expected to face stricter point-of-origin guidelines.
¡§If I give you duty-free treatment, I might ask for a higher value-added rate,¡¨
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Liang Kuo-hsin (±ç°ê·s) said.
Huang Chih-peng (¶À§ÓÄP), director-general of the Bureau of Foreign Trade and
Taiwan¡¦s lead ECFA negotiator, said verification of a product¡¦s origin was
likely to be stricter than the current 35 percent for ¡§early harvest¡¨ items,
adding that guidelines would vary by product category.
¡§[The guidelines] will be stricter, but whether the value-added threshold will
be higher than 35 percent remains uncertain,¡¨ Huang said.
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