计规划[1998]250号
(Promulgated by the State Planning Commission, State Economic and Trade Commission, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation and General Administration of Customs on 25 February 1998.)
颁布日期：19980225 　实施日期：19980225 　颁布单位：国家计划委员会、 国家经济贸易委员会、 对外贸易经济合作部、 海关总署

In order to thoroughly implement the spirit of the State Council, The Adjustment of Tax Policies on Imported Equipment Circular (document Guo Fa [1997] No.37), we hereby issue the following notice in respect of specific operational issues:

1. All relevant units shall properly carry out the work in respect of duty and tax exemption for imported equipment in accordance with the principle of "simplifying the operational stage, streamlining the examination and approval procedures and accelerating examination and approval", and act strictly in accordance with the regulations of the State Council.

2. Foreign investment projects shall be subject to the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue and the Import Goods Not Exempted from Taxation for Foreign Investment Projects Catalogue. Equipment for own use imported for projects that are funded with loans from foreign governments or loans from international financial institutions (the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the Agricultural Development Fund) and equipment which is supplied by foreign businesses and imported for the processing trade without valuation, shall be exempt from customs duties and import-stage value-added tax, with the exception of goods listed in the Import Commodities Not Exempt from Duty and Tax for Foreign Investment Projects Catalogue. All other projects (including projects using foreign commercial loans) shall be subject to the Industries, Products and Technologies Currently Particularly Encouraged by the State for Development Catalogue and the Import Goods Not Exempt from Taxation for Domestic Investment Projects Catalogue.

3. With respect to domestic investment projects, units that have been granted project examination and approval authority by the State Council must examine and approve the project feasibility studies strictly in accordance with the Industries, Products and Technologies Currently Particularly Encouraged by the State for Development Catalogue. With respect to domestic investment projects that are eligible for duty and tax exemption for their imported equipment, the project examination and approval units shall specify the same in their official reply concerning the feasibility study and attach thereto a Confirmation Document for a Domestic or Foreign Investment Project Whose Development Is Encouraged by the State (a "Project Confirmation Document"; for its format, see Annex 1). Customs shall carry out duty and tax exemption procedures for the imported equipment on the basis of the Project Confirmation Document and with reference to the Import Commodities Not Exempt from Duty and Tax for Domestic Investment Projects Catalogue.

4. With respect to foreign investment projects, units that have been granted project examination and approval authority by the State Council must carry out examination and approval strictly in accordance with the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue. With respect to foreign investment projects that are eligible for duty and tax exemption for their imported equipment, the project examination and approval units shall specify the same in their official reply concerning the feasibility study and attach thereto a Project Confirmation Document. Customs shall carry out duty and tax exemption procedures for the imported equipment on the basis of the Project Confirmation Document, the document by which the authority for foreign economic relations and trade approved the establishment of the enterprise and the business licence issued by the administration authority for industry and commerce, and with reference to the Import Commodities Not Exempt from Tax for Foreign Investment Projects Catalogue .

5. Where, according to the limits of examination and approval authority, a project that is eligible for duty and tax exemption needs to be submitted to the State Council for examination and approval, the project's feasibility study that is submitted to the State Council for examination and approval should propose that duty and tax exemption be granted for imported equipment. Following approval by the State Council, the relevant authorities shall attach a Project Confirmation Document when they issue their official reply to the feasibility study.

6. With respect to investment projects whose feasibility studies were already given official replies in accordance with current regulations between 1 January 1998 and the date of issuance of this Circular, the project examination and approval authorities shall retroactively issue Project Confirmation Documents for any such projects which comply with the Industries, Products and Technologies Currently Particularly Encouraged by the State for Development Catalogue or the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue.

7. Projects shall be determined to be above or below the limit in accordance with the current relevant regulations. Capital construction projects above the limit shall be issued a Project Confirmation Document by the State Planning Commission. Technology transformation projects above the limit shall be issued a Project Confirmation Document by the State Economic and Trade Commission. Foreign investment enterprises' capital increase projects above the limit shall remain subject to examination and approval according to the original examination and approval procedures and shall be issued a Project Confirmation Document. Project Confirmation Documents for projects above the limit shall be issued in two copies, of which one shall be sent to the unit that submitted the project and one shall be sent as a copy to the General Administration of Customs and transmitted by the General Administration of Customs to the directly subordinate Customs of the place where the project is located.

8. The Project Confirmation Documents for projects below the limit shall be issued by the project examination and approval units of those people's governments at provincial level, relevant State Council departments, people's governments of municipalities with independent development plans and State pilot enterprise groups which have been authorized by the State Council. The authority to issue Project Confirmation Documents for such projects may not be delegated from level tolower level. Wholly foreign-owned projects below the limit and foreign investment enterprises' capital increase projects below the limit shall remain subject to examination and approval according to the original examination and approval procedures and shall be issued a Project Confirmation Document. Project Confirmation Documents to be issued by enterprise groups that are State pilot projects must be issued by the parent companies. Project Confirmation Documents for projects below the limit shall be issued in three copies, of which one shall be sent to the unit that submitted the project, one shall be sent as a copy to Customs (Project Confirmation Documents issued locally shall be copied to the directly subordinate Customs of the place where the project unit is located, and Project Confirmation Documents issued by relevant State Council departments and State pilot enterprise groups shall be copied to the General Administration of Customs and transmitted by the General Administration of Customs to the directly subordinate Customs of the place where the project is located) and one shall be filed for the record. Project Confirmation Documents for projects below the limit shall bear the official seal of the examination and approval unit; however, a specimen of such seal must be filed with Customs in advance (local examination and approval units shall file the specimen with the directly subordinate Customs of the place where they are located; relevant State Council departments and State pilot enterprise groups shall file the specimen with the General Administration of Customs).

9. With respect to duty and tax exemption for equipment imported for carried-over projects, pleasebe notified of the following supplementary provisions:

(1) Those foreign investment projects approved between 1 October 1995 and 1 April 1996 that are on the list of filed projects that have passed verification following their verification by the State Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation, shall be eligible for the policy concerning duty and tax exemption for imported equipment.

(2) With respect to projects that were approved prior to 31 December 1994 and that are funded with loans from international financial institutions or loans from foreign governments, and whose import of equipment has not been completed and needs to be continued after 1 January 1998, and with respect to equipment imported for projects of this type which were approved between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 1997, procedures for exemption of such equipment from customs duties and import-stage value-added tax may be carried out with Customs on the strength of the original approval document, in accordance with the provisions of State Council Document No. 37.

(3) Where capital construction projects which, following approval by the State Council, paid customs duties and import-stage value-added tax with a 50% reduction prior to 1 April 1996 still need to import equipment after 1 January 1998, procedures for exemption of such equipment from customs duties and import-stage value-added tax may be carried out with Customs on the strength of the original approval document, in accordance with the provisions of State Council Document No. 37.

10. With respect to procedures for exemption from customs duties and import-stage value-added tax to be carried out for carried-over projects on the strength of the original approval document, the term "original approval document" means:

(1) in the case of projects funded with loans from foreign governments or loans from international financial institutions: the official reply or equivalent document concerning the feasibility study obtained in accordance with the State's current regulations and procedures, and the loan certificate obtained in accordance with the relevant provisions of document Shu Shui [1992] No. 1749 and document Shui Zheng [1992] No. 406;

(2) in the case of technology transformation projects: the official reply or equivalent document concerning the feasibility study obtained in accordance with the State's current regulations and procedures, and the technology transformation project confirmation and registration certificate obtained in accordance with document Shu Shui [1996] No. 236 (with the exception of projects that have already completed the procedures with Customs for a 50% reduction in duties and tax and have obtained a duty and tax exemption certificate);

(3) domestic capital construction projects: the official reply or equivalent document concerning the feasibility study obtained in accordance with the State's current regulations and procedures.

11. The relevant columns of the Project Confirmation Document shall be completed as follows:

(1) The"standard number of the project"and the"nature of the project"shall be entered according to the provisions of Annex 7 to document Shu Shui [1997] No.1062 of the General Administration of Customs. For details of the name, code and jurisdiction of the (directly subordinate) Customs in charge of the project as mentioned in the said column for "standard number of the project", see Annex 2. The codes of relevant State Council departments shall provisionally be centrally determined by the General Administration of Customs upon receipt of the Project Confirmation Documents. When relevant State Council departments issue Project Confirmation Documents, they shall provisionally enter "XX" for the sixth and seventh digits of the standard number of the project.

(2) The "examination and approval item of the industrial policy in respect of the project"means the basis for examination and approval of confirmation of the duty and tax exemption. One should enter the specific item of the Industries, Products and Technologies Currently Particularly Encouraged by the State for Development Catalogue or the Foreign Investment Industrial Guidance Catalogue.

(3) Under "project unit" one should enter the specific unit that undertakes the project or prepares its construction. If there is more than one project unit, all such units shall be listed in proper order. If no unit to undertake the project or prepare its construction has been determined at the time when the official reply concerning the feasibility study is made, the unit that submitted the feasibility study may be entered.

(4) Under "substance of the project" one may directly enter the name of the project.

(5) Under "time limit for implementation of the project" one may enter the planned construction period of the project. If no year has been set as the deadline (as in the case of foreign investment enterprises), it shall not be required to enter a deadline year.

(6) Under "amount of foreign exchange to be used for the project" one should enter the total amount of foreign exchange for the equipment planned to be imported for the project.

12. Article 6 of document Shu Shui [1997] No. 1062 of the General Administration of Customs, which reads "foreign investment projects and domestic technology transformation projects the establishment of which was approved between 1 April 1996 and 31 December 1997 in accordance with State regulations and procedures, and . . .", shall be amended to read as follows: "foreign investment projects and domestic investment projects the establishment of which was approved between 1 April 1996 and 31 December 1997 in accordance with State regulations and procedures, and . . .".

13. Regulations on specific operational issues on the exemption of duty and tax on equipment which is supplied by foreign businesses and imported for the processing trade without valuation shall be formulated separately by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation and the General Administration of Customs.