WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/MA/W/64 
21 September 2004 
 (04-3963) 
Committee on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 18 OF THE 
PROTOCOL ON THE ACCESSION OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  
 
Information Required by Annex 1 of the Protocol
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 20 Se ptember 2004, has been received from the 
Permanent Delegation of the People's Republic of China.  
_______________ 
 
 
1.  Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ) 
 
Administration of TRQs on a transparent, predicta ble, uniform, fair and non-discriminatory basis 
using clearly specified timeframes, administrativ e procedures and requirements and evidence of a 
consistent national allocation (a nd reallocation) policy, including : 
  (i)  provision of volume/value of the quota or TRQ made available. 
 
1. Regarding the tariff rate quota for impor tation of agricultural products, pursuant to the Interim 
Measures on the Administration of Tariff Rate  Quota for Importation of Agricultural Products , the 
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the People’s Republic of China 
promulgated on 30 September 2003 the Quantities, Application Conditio ns and Allocation Methods of 
Tariff Rate Quota for Importa tion of Grain and Cotton of 2004  in its Announcement No. 25 of 2003.  
The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) of the People’s Republic of China promulgated on 
28 September 2003  Allocation Methods of Tariff Rate Quot a for Importation of Palm Oil, Soybean 
Oil, Rape Seed Oil and Sugar of 2004  in its Announcement No.51 of 2003, and Implementing Rules on 
the Administration of Tariff Rate Quota for Im portation of Wool an d Wool Tops of 2004  in its 
Announcement No.52 of 2003 . 
 
2. Regarding the tariff rate quota for importation of fertilizers, pursuant to the Interim Measures 
on the Administration of Tariff Rate Quota for Importation of Fertilizers , MOFCOM promulgated on 
10 October 2003  the Quantities, Allocation Principles and Application Procedures of Tariff Rate 
Quota for Importation of Fertilizers of 2004  in its Announcement No.55 of 2003.  
 
3. All the Announcements mentioned above can be  obtained from both the official website of 
MOFCOM (WWW.MOFCOM.GOV.CN) and  the China Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation 
Gazette .  
       4. According to the Announcements, quantities of the TRQs of 2004 are as follows: 
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 Products Quantity 
Agricultural products 
Wheat 9,636,000 tons 
Maize 7,200,000 tons 
Rice 5,320,000 tons 
Soybean oil 3,118,000 tons 
Rape seed oil 1,126,600 tons 
Palm oil 2,700,000 tons 
Sugar 1,945,000 tons 
Cotton 1,894,000 tons 
Wool 287,000 tons 
Industrial products 
Wool tops 80,000 tons 
Urea  2,300,000 tons 
Diammonium phosphate 6,250,000 tons 
NPK 3,130,000 tons 
 
 (ii)  reallocated quota or TRQs applied for.  
 
5. On 11 August 2004, NDRC and MOFCOM jointly promulgated Announcement No.50 of 
2004,  on reallocation of tariff rate quota for importation of agricultural products of 2004. 
 
6. On 12 August 2004, MOFCOM promulgated Announcement No.51 of 2004, on reallocation 
of tariff rate quota for importation of fertilizers of 2004. 
 
 (iii)  the volume/value of requests for allocation or reallocation denied. 
 
7. Volumes of requests for alloca tion denied in 2004 are as follows: 
 
Products Quantity applied for (tons) Quantity denied (tons) 
Wheat 19,655,000 10,019,000 
Maize 25,590,000 18,387,000 
Rice 5,666,000 1,327,000 
Soybean oil 17,952,000 14,834,000 
Rape seed oil 5,367,000 4,241,000 
Palm oil 11,628,000 8,928,000 
Sugar 5,140,000 3,195,000 
Cotton 5,130,000 4,236,000 
 
 (iv)  fill rates for the quota or TRQ.  
8. Import volumes under TRQ and the fill rates as of 31 July 2004 are as follows: 
 
Products Import volume (tons) Fill rate 
Wheat 3,470,000 36% 
Maize <5,000 0% 
Rice 450,000 8.5% 
Soybean oil 1,610,000 51.6% 
Rape seed oil 240,000 21.3% 
Palm oil 1,220,000 45.2% 
Sugar 830,000 42.7%  G/MA/W/64 
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 Products Import volume (tons) Fill rate 
Cotton 1,755,000 92.7% 
Wool 130,000 45.3% 
Wool tops 10,000 12.5% 
Urea 20,000 0.9% 
NPK 1,040,000 33.2% 
Diammonium phosphate 1,690,000 27% 
 
 (v)  for TRQs, the amount of any goods entered at the over quota rate. 
 
9. None. 
 
 (vi)  time taken to grant a quota or TRQ allocation. 
 
10. According to the Interim Measures on the Administration of Tariff Rate Quota for 
Importation of Agricultural Products , NDRC and MOFCOM allocate TRQs for importation of 
agricultural product in two month. 
 
11. According to the Interim Measures on the Administrati on of Tariff rate Quota for Importation 
of Fertilizers,  MOFCOM allocates TRQs for importation of fertilizers in two months. 
 
2.  Non-Tariff Measures including Qu antitative Import Restrictions 
 
 (a) The introduction, re-introduction or app lication of any non-tariff measures other than 
those listed in Annex 3 of the Protocol and elimination of non-tariff measures 
None.  
 (b) Implementation of the schedule for phased elimination of the measures contained in Annex 3 
 
12. Since accession, the Chinese Government has been promulgati ng annually, through 
MOFCOM (and the former Ministry of Fore ign Trade and Economic Cooperation, MOFTEC) 
Announcement, the Catalogue of Products under Import License Administration and the Catalogue of 
Products under Automatic Import Licensing Administration , which list by tariff item all the products 
under the administration of import quota, import license and automatic import licensing.  On 
10 December 2003, the Catalogue of Products under Import License Administration of 2004 is 
published in Announcement No.63 of 2003 of MOFCOM and the General Administration of Customs 
of the People’s Republic of China , and the Catalogue of Products under Automatic Import Licensing 
Administration of 2004 is published in Announcement No.70 of 2003 of MOFCOM and General 
Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China .  All the Announcements mentioned 
above can be obtained both from the official website of MOFCOM (WWW.MOFCOM.GOV.CN) and 
the China Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Gazette .  As shown in the Catalogue of 
Products under Import License Administration of 2004 , the Chinese Government has fulfilled its 
commitments on reduction of non-tariff measures accord ing to the timetable contained in Annex 3 to 
the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic  of China.  The remaining non-tariff measures 
are in conformity with the timetable in Annex 3.  
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 (c)  Quota allocation and reallocation in conf ormity with WTO requirements, including the 
Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures following criteria set out in the Report of the Working Party on the Accession of China 
 
13. According to the Catalogue of Products under Import License Administration of 2004  and 
Annex 3 to the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s Republic of China, the last batch of products 
remaining under import quota administration in 2004 are certain machinery and electronic products.  
Regarding these machinery and electronic pro ducts, MOFCOM promulga ted on 31 July 2003 
Announcement No.37 of 2003,  which published the quantity of q uotas and allocation methods of these 
products for 2004.  The allocation is in conformity with WTO requirements, including the criteria set out in 
the Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures and Report of the Working Party on the 
Accession of China. 
  
(d)  Distribution of licences, quotas, tariff rate quotas or any other means of approval for 
importation is not subject to conditions set out in Section 7, paragraph 3 of the Protocol 
 
14. According to all the regula tions and ministry decrees related to quota, licence and TRQ 
administration, the distribution of import licences, quotas, TRQs, or any other means of approval for 
importation are not subject to the conditions set out  in Section 7, paragraph 3 of the Protocol. 
 
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