Newsletter
AMENDMENTS TO CUSTOMS IMPORT TARIFF
In response to Taiwan's WTO accession, the Legislative Yuan has amendmented the Customs Import Tariff to reduce import tariffs. In total, 481 tariff items were added, 179 deleted, and over 5000 amended. The changes are expected to result in a loss of over NT$5 billion in tariff revenue during the first year of WTO member-ship.
The average tariff rate for agricultural products was reduced from 20.02% to 14.01%. To alle-viate the impact of WTO entry on Taiwan's ag-ricultural industry, new provisions have been introduced to protect sensitive sectors of the in-dustry, including a tariff quota system. This mainly applies to 22 types of products including peanuts, sugar, chicken meat, pork, garlic and persimmons. 14 of these 22 products will be subject to special protective measures.
The average rate for industrial goods was re-duced from 6.03% to 5.87%. The rate for pharmaceuticals, construction equipment, steel, beer, furniture, distilled spirits, paper, and toys was reduced to zero. The import duty on small automobiles will be reduced from 30% to 17.5% over several years, and a tariff quota system will be adopted; from year 2011, the tariff quota will be dropped and small automobiles will become freely importable.