Rules Of Origin In China’ S Free Trade Areas

As for the rules of origin, International Convention on the Simplification of Customs Procedures(referred to as the "Kyoto Convention")conducted by the Customs Cooperation Council in 1974 is the first international convention on it. However, the convention has only recommendatory nature, it is not legally binding. And in 1994, after difficult negotiations and consultations, WTO member countries reached a "Rules of Origin Agreement" and put it into the "Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations final document" for Parties to accept the package, which is the first ever multilateral agreement on rules of origin of goods. However, this agreement is different from other WTO multilateral trade agreements. It does not specify how the members identify some problems and issues, but only regulates the principles which should be obeyed when members formulate their owns rules of origin. The agreement will serve only as guiding role. So, while the agreement reached important consensus on non-preferential rules of origin, rules of origin implemented by the Member States has not yet unified and the coordination of non-preferential rules of origin are still struggling multilateral negotiations and; In addition, the agreement involves only nonpreferential rules of origin, international coordination on the preferential rules of origin in GSP and regional trade arrangements is still blank. "Rules of Origin Agreement" attaches the preferential rules of origin later in the form of a joint declaration, but in fact all countries in the development of preferential rules of origin are unconstrained with strong autonomy.And because in the multilateral level, countries need to coordinate the interests of multiparty members, so it often takes a long time in the rule-making. Therefore, in recent years, more and more countries are increasingly turning their attention to regional trade. The EU and the United States have set global benchmark on the rules of origin, especially the practice of preferential rules of origin, and gradually formed two most mature and important modes of preferential rules of origin in the world today- Pan-European(Pan-European) rules of origin mode(hereinafter referred to as Pan-European model) and the North American free Trade Area(NAFTA) rules of origin mode(hereinafter referred to as the North American model). However, each preferential trade area applies different rules of origin, which also has their own domestic non-preferential rules of origin, thus causing a "spaghetti bowl" effect, so that the application of rules of origin has become increasingly chaotic. Thus it is more imperative to make practice to make preferential rules of origin reunification.Academics put forward three solutions to unify preferential rules of origin : coordination, reform and abolish fundamental rules of origin, each has its advocates and opponents. But the basic principles are the same, that is, to unify the standards to determinate the origin of goods, to reduce regional protection and restrictive, and to simplify origin operating procedures. And as the rules of origin under the background of economic globalization has become an important tool of trade policy, China also increasingly put the original legislation and practice of rules of origin in an important strategic position. But before joining into the WTO, China did not strictly distinguish preferential and non-preferential rules of origin, which caught China’s attention after joining into the WTO. China’s current rules of origin legislation is "People’s Republic of China Import and Export Ordinance, the rules of origin of goods" promulgated by General Administration of Customs in 2006,whose non-preferential rules of origin is basically consistent with WTO rules. However, the regulations are not clearly defined that it can apply to preferential rules. China also has a lot of inconsistency with other countries’ effort to unify the preferential rues of origin. Thus, it is necessary to do some research on the preferential rules of origin in China Free Trade Areas(hereinafter referred to as FTAs). In particular, June 1, 2015 and June 17, 2015, respectively, China and South Korea and Australia signed a new FTA, and simultaneously entered into force on December 20. "China- Korea FTA" and "China- Australia FTA" signed on behalf of the higher levels of the FTA, and will further promote the new development of China’s regional economic integration. As compared with other free trade agreements China has signed, "China- Korea FTA" for the first time provides for "Treatment of Certain Goods" in the Outward Processing Zone, which enrichs the content of preferential rules of origin.This paper aims to make text analysis on China’s preferential rules of origin in its FTAs, and use a comparative study with the representative modes of the Pan-European model and the North American model, to analyze the specific situation of rules of origin in China’s FTAs, as well a to explore the existing problems and possible measures in China’s FTAs.Specifically, the article is divided into five parts:The first part is about some research on the basis of the rules of origin in China’s FTAs like the definition and basic elements it contains.The second part focuses on text analysis on China FTAs in the rules of origin, to study its development, the main content of the rules, and then to sum up China FTAs features.The third part examines some of the shortcomings of China FTAs rules of origin. For example, China doesn’t have unified standard to determinate the origin of goods; the regimewide rules of origin are not perfect; and the procedures on rules of origin are confused.The fourth part analyzes the Pan-European model and the North American model of preferential rules of origin and compares them with China FTAs rules of origin. The preferential rules of origin in United States and the European Union are walking in the forefront of the world, which is necessary to conduct research on them in order to learn from them.The fifth part discusses what the possible measures we can adopt to improve our preferential rules of origin.