WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/MA/W/92 
16 October 2007 
 (07-4443) 
Committee on Market Access Original:   English 
  
 
CHINA'S TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM  
 
Communication from China
 
  
 The following communication, dated 12 October 2007, is being circulated at the request of 
the Delegation of China.  
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1. Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQ) 
-  Administration of TRQs on a transparent, predictable, uniform, fair and non-
discriminatory basis using clearly specified timeframes, administrative procedures and 
requirements and evidence of a consistent na tional allocation (and reallocation) policy, 
including: 
 
(a) Provision of volume/value of the quota or TRQ made available 
1.1 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 , 
NDRC promulgated on 18 September 2006 the Quantities, Application Conditions and Allocation 
Methods of Tariff Rate Quota for Im portation of Grain and Cotton of 2007  in its Announcement 
No. 64 of 2006. MOFCOM promulgated on 29 September 2006 the Application and Allocation 
Methods of Tariff Rate Quota for Importation of Sugar of 2007  in its Announcement No.76 of 2006,  
and Implementing Rules on the Administration of Tar iff Rate Quota for Importation of Wool and Wool 
Tops of 2007  in its Announcement No. 77 of 2006.   
 
1.2 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 also 
promulgated on 10 October 2006  the Quantities, Allocation Principl es and Application Procedures of 
Tariff Rate Quota for Import ation of Fertilizers of 2007 in its Announcement No. 79 of 2006. 
 
1.3 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 .  
 1.4 According to the Announcements, quantities of the TRQs of 2007 are as follows: G/MA/W/92 
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Products Quantity 
Agricultural products 
Wheat 9,636,000 tons 
Maize 7,200,000 tons 
Rice 5,320,000 tons 
Sugar 1,945,000 tons 
Cotton 894,000 tons 
Wool 287,000 tons 
 
 
Products Quantity 
Industrial products 
Wool tops 80,000 tons 
Urea  3,300,000 tons 
Diammonium phosphate 6,900,000 tons 
NPK 3,450,000 tons 
 
(b) Reallocated quota or TRQs applied for  
1.5 On 10 August 2007, NDRC and MOFCOM jointly promulgated Announcement No.47 of 
2007,  on reallocation of tariff rate quota for im portation of agricultural products of 2006.  
 
(c) The volume/value of requests for allocation or reallocation denied; 
1.6 Volumes of requests for alloca tion denied in 2007 are as follows: 
 
Products Quantity applied for (tons) Quantity denied (tons) 
Wheat 12,983,200 3,347,600 
Maize 24,172,000  16,972,200 
Rice 6,452,900  1,871,300 
Sugar 8,851,980 6,906,980 
Cotton 10,400,000    6,906,000 
  G/MA/W/92 
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  (d) Fill rates for the quota or TRQ; 
1.7 Import volumes under TRQ and the fill rates as of 31 July 2007 are as follows: 
 
Products Import volume (tons) Fill rate 
Wheat 80,000 0.8% 
Maize 10,000 0.1% 
Rice 260,000 4.9% 
Sugar 690,000 35.5% 
Cotton 1,400,000 156.6% 
Wool 200,000 69.7% 
Wool tops 10,000 12.5% 
Urea 00 %  
NPK 920,00 26.7% 
Diammonium phosphate 540,000 7.8% 
 
(e) For TRQs, the amount of any goods entered at the over quota rate; and 
1.8 Cotton imported at the over quota rate amounted to 506,000 tons as of 31 July 2007.  
 
(f) Time taken to grant a quota or TRQ allocation. 
1.9 There has been no change since last transitional review meeting. 
 
2. Non-Tariff Measures including Quantitative Import Restrictions 
(a) The introduction, re-introduction or applica tion of any non-tariff measures other than those 
listed in Annex 3 of the Protocol a nd elimination of non-tariff measures 
2.1 There have been no changes since last transitional review meeting.  
 
(b) Implementation of the schedule for phased elimination of the measures contained in Annex 3 
2.2 The Chinese government has fulfilled all its commitments on reduction of non-tariff measures 
according to the timetable contained in Annex 3 to  the Protocol on the Accession of the People’s 
Republic of China.   
(c) Quota allocation and reallocation in confor mity with WTO requirements, including the 
Agreement on Import Licensing Procedures follo wing criteria set out in the Report of the 
Working Party on the Accession of China 
2.3 At present China does not maintained any import quota administration. In addition, the 
allocation and reallocation of TRQs are fully in line with the commitments upon China’s accession 
into the WTO.   G/MA/W/92 
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  (d) Distribution of licenses, 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  
2.4 According to all the regulations and ministry decrees related to quota, license and TRQ 
administration, the distribution of import licen ses, 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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