20.18. Processing trade accounts for a large share of Chinese exports and imports (about 50 per cent of exports and 30 per cent of imports).[8] The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China, which is the responsible agency for merchandise trade statistics, defines goods for processing based on the customs procedure of inward processing, under which certain goods can be brought into China’s customs territory for manufacturing or processing with subsequent exportation. Two types of customs regimes are differentiated: type I, whereby the imported input remains the property of the supplier and type II, whereby the ownership of imported inputs is transferred to producers of China. The placement of goods under the inward processing procedure requires authorization and customs monitors the processing operation. The external trade statistics reflect collection of information at the enterprise transaction level.
20.19. An example regarding the compilation of information on the outward processing of China, Hong Kong SAR, in the mainland of China in provided in paragraph 4.19. (copied below).
4.19. Survey on Trade involving Outward Processing of China, Hong Kong SAR, in the Mainland of China. The outward processing (OP) of China, Hong Kong SAR, in the mainland of China involves the exportation of all or part of the raw materials or semi-manufactures from or through Hong Kong to the mainland for processing, with a contractual arrangement for subsequent re-importation of the processed goods into Hong Kong. As trade of an OP nature cannot be delineated under the existing system of recording merchandise trade statistics, the Census and Statistics Department has been conducting the Survey on Trade involving Outward Processing in the Mainland of China (OPS) to assess the economic impact of OP activities. OPS is a monthly sample survey which has been conducted since the third quarter of 1988. All import and export declarations in respect of the trade ofChina, Hong Kong SAR, with the mainland and re-exports of goods of Mainland origin to other places are employed as the sample frame for the survey. Under the current sample design, the declarations are first categorized by trade flow and commodity groups. For re-exports of mainland origin, the declarations are further categorized by three markets, namely theUnited States of America, the European Union and other places. A stratified sampling method is adopted for the sample selection. The total sample size is about 28, 500 declarations per quarter. Data are collected from the traders and enterprises on the declarations using the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) approach. |
20.20. The metal industry, which is a major industry in Iceland, imports raw material to be processed and exports goods after processing.[9] Few companies are involved, and importers are obligated to indicate on the customs declaration whether the good imported is for processing. Raw material imported for manufacture is exempted from excise tax and duties (according to customs regulations). This provides an incentive for enterprises to identify goods for processing on the import declaration. Some enterprises buy the raw material from abroad and sell the finished product to abroad (change of ownership); others make agreements with foreign enterprises to process raw material into finished products; the foreign enterprises provide the raw material and sell the good after processing (no change of ownership). There is a high prevalence of goods for processing inIceland’s trade data for goods and services.
20.21. The National Statistical Office of the Philippines has not yet included the customs procedure code in the processing of the trade data. Therefore, so-called consigned goods are considered to be goods for processing. Semiconductors and garments are examples of consigned goods. Consigned goods are determined based on the following steps:
(a) Confirm that “FOB value of imported raw materials” inbox40of the export document has an entry. This item must always have an entry if the goods exported are consigned goods. FOB value of consigned goods equals labour cost plus FOB value of imported raw material;
(b) Validate the value declared in box 40 with the attached invoice, and look for the value of consigned raw materials, consigned items, consigned inputs or processed items, or the value of imported materials or processing cost. The value should coincide with the value declared in box 40;
(c) Ascertain whether the CMT or CMP value written in the export document. FOB value of consigned goods equals CMT/CMP (labour cost) plus FOB value of imported raw material.
Some export documents do not have an entry forbox40. In this case, the attached invoice and notes written in the document serve as the basis for categorizing consigned goods. The list of exporters of consignment goods is also used. Goods exported from an exporter on this list are categorized as consigned goods. However, the list is updated only when the exporter changes its line of commodity.
20.22. The information on transactions performed under the regime of temporary admission for active refinement is obtained from the customs declarations (the single declaration of goods (DUM)) filled out by merchants engaged in any operation of importation or exportation of the goods. The merchant is required to indicate on the single declaration of goods the customs regime under which the goods will be accepted into the national economic territory. One can differentiate between two types of regimes of active refinement:
(a) Active refinement without payment: this regime allows the acceptance on the customs territory (with a hold on import taxes and duties) of certain goods intended to be re-exported in a given time frame after having been subjected to a transformation; goods imported under this regime are not subject to a financial transfer to the foreign purveyor, who remains the owner;
(b) Active refinement with payment: goods imported under this regime are subject to a financial transfer to the foreign purveyor; the importer becomes the owner.
20.23. Foreign trade statistics include transactions on goods performed as part of the temporary importation for active refinement whether there is a transfer of ownership or not (active refinement with or without payment). Concerning active refinement with payment, the value of imported raw materials and that of re-exported goods after transformation are reported on the single declaration of goods. As for active refinement without payment, in addition to the single declaration of goods, which contains only the value of the transformation, there is an audit file containing the value of the imported raw material, which is received by the Office of Exchange. The staff of the Office of Exchange undertakes the determination of the raw value for every re-exportation. The value of re-exportation consists of the value of the raw material that has been subjected to the transformation and the value added incorporated in the final product.
[8] See Hongman Jin, “China’s Practice in Statistics of Goods for Processing” (Statistics Department, General Administration of Customs of China), presentation at the Global Forum on Trade Statistics, Geneva, 2-4 February 2011.
[9] See A. Ó. Svavarsdóttir, “New manuals of trade in goods and trade in services: Goods for processing in Iceland” (Statistics Iceland), presentation at the Global Forum on Trade Statistics, Geneva, 2-4 February 2011.