Details of the us-china trade agreement: tariffs on $300bn of a-list goods reduced to 7.5 percent

One: First, China’s tariff rate against Canada has been lowered

According to the office of the United States trade representative (USTR), the U.S. tariff on Chinese imports is subject to the following changes:

Tariffs on $250 billion worth of goods ($34 billion + $16 billion + $200 billion) remain unchanged at 25%;

Tariffs on $300 billion of a-list goods were cut from 15% to 7.5%(not yet in effect);

$300 billion B list commodity suspension (effective).

Two: Piracy and counterfeiting on e-commerce platforms

The agreement shows that China and the United States should strengthen cooperation to jointly and individually combat piracy and counterfeiting in e-commerce markets. Both sides should reduce possible barriers to enable consumers to obtain legal content in a timely manner and ensure that legal content is protected by copyright, and at the same time, provide effective law enforcement for e-commerce platforms so as to reduce piracy and counterfeiting.

China should provide enforcement procedures to enable rights holders to take effective and prompt action against infringements in the cyber environment, including effective notification and take down systems, to address infringements. For major e-commerce platforms that fail to take the necessary measures to address intellectual property infringement, both parties shall take effective actions to combat the proliferation of counterfeit or pirated goods on the platforms.

China should rule that e-commerce platforms that repeatedly fail to curb sales of counterfeit or pirated goods could have their online licenses revoked. The United States is studying additional measures to combat the sale of counterfeit or pirated goods.

Combating Internet piracy

1. China shall provide law enforcement procedures to enable right holders to take effective and prompt action against infringements in the cyber environment, including effective notification and take down systems, in response to infringements.

2. China shall : (一) request prompt removal of the stock;

(二) to be exempted from the responsibility of submitting the notice of wrongful removal in good faith;

(三) to extend the time limit for filing a judicial or administrative complaint to 20 working days after receiving the counter-notice;

(四) to ensure the validity of the removal notice and counter-notice by requiring the submission of relevant information in the notice and counter-notice, and imposing penalties on the malicious submission notice and counter-notice.

3. The United States confirms that the current law enforcement procedures in the United States allow the right holder to take action against the infringement in the cyber environment.

4. The parties agree to consider further cooperation as appropriate to combat Internet infringement.+

Infringement on major e-commerce platforms

1. For major e-commerce platforms that fail to take necessary measures to rectify the infringement of intellectual property rights, both parties shall take effective actions to combat the prevalence of counterfeit or pirated goods on the platforms.

2. China should stipulate that e-commerce platforms that repeatedly fail to curb the sale of counterfeit or pirated goods may have their online licenses revoked.

3. The United States confirms that the United States is studying additional measures to combat the sale of counterfeit or pirated goods.

Production and export of pirated and counterfeit products

Piracy and counterfeiting seriously harm the interests of the public and the rights holders in China and the United States. Both parties shall take sustained and effective action to prevent the production and distribution of counterfeit and pirated products, including those that have a significant impact on public health or personal safety.

Destroy counterfeit goods

1. In respect of border measures, the parties shall stipulate:

(一)to destroy, except under special circumstances, commodities whose release has been suspended by the local customs on the grounds of counterfeiting or piracy and which have been seized and confiscated aspirated or counterfeit commodities;

(二) it is not enough to remove the illegally attached fake trademark to allow the commodity to enter the commercial channel;

(三) except in special circumstances, the competent authorities shall have no discretion under any circumstances to permit the export of counterfeit or pirated goods or the entry into other customs procedures.

2. With regard to civil judicial proceedings, the parties shall stipulate:

(一) at the request of the rights holder, the commodities identified as counterfeit or pirated shall, except in special circumstances, be destroyed;

(二) at the request of the rights holder, the judicial department shall order the immediate destruction without compensation of materials and tools mainly used in the product

(三) the removal of the illegally attached fake trademark is not sufficient to permit the commodity to enter the commercial channel;

(四) the judicial department shall, at the request of the oblige, order the counterfeiter to pay to the oblige the benefits derived from the infringement or the compensation sufficient to cover the losses caused by the infringement.

3. With regard to criminal law enforcement procedures, the parties shall stipulate that:

(一) except in exceptional circumstances, the judicial authorities shall order the confiscation and destruction of all counterfeit or pirated goods and articles containing counterfeit marks that may be used to attach to the goods;

(二) except in special circumstances, the judicial authorities shall order the confiscation and destruction of materials and tools mainly used in the manufacture of counterfeit or pirated goods;

(三) the defendant shall not be compensated in any form for the confiscation or destruction;

(四) the judicial department or other competent departments shall keep a list of commodities and other materials to be destroyed, and

Has the discretion to temporarily save the items from destruction to preserve the evidence when the holder notifies him that he wishes to bring a civil or administrative action against the defendant or a third party infringe.

4. The United States confirms that the current measures of the United States give equal treatment to the provisions of this article.

Three: Border enforcement operations

Under the agreement, both sides should commit to strengthening law enforcement cooperation to reduce the quantity of counterfeit and pirated goods, including exports or transshipment. China should focus on the inspection, seizure, seizure, administrative confiscation and exercise of other customs enforcement powers against the export or transshipment of counterfeit and pirated goods and continue to increase the number of trained law enforcement personnel. Measures to be taken by China include significantly increased training of customs enforcement personnel within nine months of the entry into force of this agreement; Significantly increase the number of enforcement actions within 3 months of the effective date of this agreement and update enforcement actions online quarterly.

Four:”malicious trademark”

In order to strengthen the protection of trademarks, both parties shall ensure the full and effective protection and enforcement of trademark rights, especially to combat malicious trademark registration.

Five: intellectual property rights

The parties shall provide for civil remedies and criminal penalties sufficient to deter future theft or infringement of intellectual property.

As interim measures, China should deter the possibility of the act of stealing or infringement of intellectual property rights, and strengthen the application of the existing relief and punishment, in accordance with the relevant intellectual property laws, through the way of close to or reached the highest legal punishment shall be given a heavier punishment, deter the possibility of the act of stealing or infringement of intellectual property rights, as well as the follow-up measures, should improve the statutory compensation, imprisonment and fines of minimum and maximum limit, to deter the act of stealing or infringement of intellectual property rights in the future.


Post time: Jan-20-2020