It was learned from the State Council executive meeting that, starting from January 1, 2019, the current policies on cross-border e-commerce retail imports will continue. No requirements in licensing, registration or record-filing for first-time imports will apply to retail imports through cross-border e-commerce platforms. Instead, these goods will receive more relaxed regulation as imports for personal use.
Moreover, implementation of this policy will be extended from the 15 cities such as Hangzhou to another 22 cities which have just established comprehensive cross-border e-commerce pilot zones. Goods included in the cross-border e-commerce retail imports list have so far enjoyed zero tariffs within a set quota and had their import VAT and consumer tax collected at 70 percent of the statutory taxable amount. Such preferential policies will be extended to another 63 tax categories of high-demand goods. The quota of goods eligible for the preferential policies will be raised from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan per transaction, and from 20,000 yuan to 26,000 yuan per head per year.