On June 2, it was one year since the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement came into full effect for the 15 signatories.On November 15, 2020, the 10 ASEAN countries and Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand co-signed the RCEP and pushed for the agreement to enter into force on January 1, 2022.On June 2, 2023, the RCEP came into full effect for the Philippines, and thus the The total population, GDP and trade in goods of the RCEP region account for about 30% of the world's total, and the full entry into force of the RCEP for the 15 parties signifies that the world's most populous free trade area with the largest economic and trade scale and the greatest development potential has entered a new stage of full implementation.

　　Over the past year, RCEP has continued to release policy dividends, and economic and trade exchanges among member countries have become more active. Many enterprises have also benefited from the tariff preferences, simplified customs clearance, trade and investment facilitation and other dividends brought about by the full entry into force of RCEP.

　　The certificate of origin is the goods in the importer to enjoy tariff reductions and exemptions of the necessary certificates, known as international trade “paper gold”. June 3, “Securities Daily” reporter learned from the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, from January to April 2024, the national trade promotion system of the RCEP certificate of origin visa amounted to 2.345 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 2.44%; visa issued by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China (PRC), the total value of 2.345 billion U.S. dollars, up 2.44%. increased by 2.44%; the number of visas totaled 78,000, up 19.57% year-on-year.

　　According to Shanghai Customs data, since RCEP came into effect on January 1, 2022, as of April 30 this year, the total import and export value of Shanghai Customs District reached 138.79 billion yuan. On the import side, Shanghai Customs has guided 2780 enterprises to utilize RCEP preferential policies to import a total of 71.22 billion yuan, with tax concessions totaling 1.70 billion yuan, ranking first in the country in terms of the number of enterprises benefiting from RCEP, the value of goods benefiting from it, and the amount of tax concessions; on the export side, enterprises have applied for a total of 190,000 certificates of origin for RCEP, with a total of 67.57 billion yuan of value of goods involved. In the first four months of this year, Shanghai Customs issued a total of 32,000 certificates of origin for export with a value of 9.98 billion yuan, an increase of 17.1% and 2.3% year-on-year.

　　“So far this year, our company has applied for more than 100 RCEP certificates of origin, involving goods worth more than 3.5 million dollars.” The person in charge of a textile manufacturing enterprise in Ningbo told the Securities Daily reporter that the tariff concessions have greatly reduced the cost of exports, and have helped the enterprise to explore the market and stabilize customers.

　　Hong Yong, an expert from the think tank of China's Digital Reality Integration 50-People Forum, said in an interview with the Securities Daily reporter that RCEP, by lowering tariff barriers, provides broader market access conditions for the import and export of China's enterprises, and enhances the stability and competitiveness of the regional supply chain. Enterprises can take advantage of tariff reductions and exemptions among member countries to reduce export costs and enhance the price competitiveness of their products in the international market; at the same time, the declining cost of imported raw materials and components helps enterprises optimize their production cost structure and improve profitability; in addition, the unified trade rules simplify the customs clearance process, reduce non-tariff barriers, promote trade facilitation, and accelerate the flow of goods.

　　The approved exporter system is one of the highlights of RCEP. Recognized by the Customs in accordance with the law, “approved exporters” can be exported or produced, with the relevant preferential trade agreements under the qualification of origin of the goods issued by the declaration of origin, enterprises can more conveniently enjoy tariff concessions under the agreement to enhance the convenience of customs clearance.

For example, according to Nanjing Customs data, from January to April this year, 46 enterprises in Jiangsu Province were approved as “approved exporters” under RCEP, and the number of declarations of origin issued by enterprises on their own increased by 2.32 times. Jiangmen Customs around the optimization of the business environment, and actively cultivate enterprises in the customs area to become “approved exporters”, to support enterprises to enhance international competitiveness, and promote foreign trade to maintain stability and improve quality. According to its statistics, as of the end of February this year, the customs area through the recognition of the approved exporters has reached 17.

　　“Although RCEP has brought significant trade facilitation, there is still room for improvement in the utilization of its relevant rules.” Hong Yong said, for example, the complexity of the rules of origin requires enterprises to have an in-depth understanding of and effectively prove that products comply with the standards of origin, which requires more concise operational guidelines and training support; the efficiency and transparency of the implementation of the approved exporter system also needs to be strengthened in order to facilitate more enterprises to enjoy the fast export process brought about by self-certification.

　　Chen Jianwei, a professor at the National Institute for Open Door Research of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Securities Daily reporter that RCEP covers 15 countries, and each country may have different rules and standards of origin, leading to the complexity and uncertainty of its certification. Therefore, there is a need to further coordinate and unify the rules of origin of member countries within the framework of RCEP to simplify procedures, reduce costs and enhance trade facilitation. In addition, RCEP needs to establish an effective dispute settlement mechanism to resolve trade disputes that may arise between member countries, in order to maintain the fairness and operability as well as the stability and sustainability of the agreement.

　　How can enterprises make full use of RCEP policy advantages in the future? Hong Yong said that in the future, industries and enterprises around the world should actively dock the preferential policies under the RCEP framework. First of all, all relevant departments to strengthen policy learning and training to ensure that enterprises can accurately understand and use the cumulative rules of origin and other core provisions to optimize the layout of the industrial chain; secondly, to take advantage of the open market of the RCEP to expand diversified export channels, in particular, to strengthen the development of emerging markets; once again, to enhance the ability of international standards convergence of products and services, and to enhance the impact of the brand and market competitiveness; and lastly, to strengthen the relationship with the Finally, strengthen investment cooperation with RCEP member countries, utilize foreign investment to promote technology introduction and industrial upgrading, and at the same time, explore the construction of cross-border industrial chains, so as to jointly enhance the level of regional economic integration.