Chemical Industry - Petrochemical
Updated: 2006-04-18 15:03
Petrochemical Industry's WTO Commitments
According to the Schedule of Specific Commitments on Services, an annex of
the Protocol of China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO),
offshore oil-field services include geological, geophysical and other scientific
prospecting services and sub-surface surveying services that should only be in
the form of petroleum exploitation in cooperation with Chinese partners.
Onshore oil-field services should only be in the form of petroleum
exploitation in cooperation with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) in
designated areas approved by the Chinese government. To carry out the petroleum
contract, the foreign service supplier will establish a branch, subsidiary or
representative office within the territory of the People's Republic of China and
go through registration formalities in accordance with the laws.
The domiciles of the said offices will be determined through consultation
with CNPC. The foreign service supplier will open its bank account with a bank
approved by Chinese authorities to engage in foreign-exchange business within
the Chinese territory. As for national treatment, the foreign service supplier
will furnish the CNPC accurately and promptly with reports on petroleum
operations, and will submit to CNPC data and samples, as well as various
technological, economic, accounting and administrative reports related to
petroleum operations. CNPC will have ownership of all of the data records,
samples, vouchers and other original information acquired during the
implementation of the petroleum operations.
The investment of foreign-service suppliers will be made in US dollars or
other hard currencies. Within the first year of China's accession,
foreign-service suppliers will be permitted to set up joint ventures to
distribute the end product oil and crude oil; within five years of China's
accession, foreign investors will be permitted to own majority stock rights and
regional or quantitative restrictions; within three years of China's accession,
retailing operations of product oil will be permitted.
According to Annex II: Staging Matrix for Section II (Other Products'
Concessions), the mentioned petrochemical products are as follows: (tariff
lines, product name, bound rate at the day of accession, final bound rate and
implementation year, referring to January 1 of the year indicated when the final
bound rate will be achieved)
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