China Tax & Investment News | A bridge to shared benefits - 15 Asia-Pacific countries reached a mega free-trade deal

China Tax & Investment News (CTIN) is a bilingual thought leadership prepared by EY’s China Tax Center team and distributed in PDF to all EY clients which have subscribed to EY email notifications. Different from China Tax & Investment Express (CTIE), which is a weekly quick briefing on multiple rules/regulations/polices officially issued in that period, CTIN – normally focusing on one ruling or one type of issues/industries each issue -  provides more detailed interpretation and in-depth business implication analysis on significant policies as well as trends of development in tax and business related areas.

After nearly a decade in the making, on 15 November 2020, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP Agreement or Agreement) was signed among 15 Asia-Pacific countries, including 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

As a landmark achievement of regional cooperation, the RCEP Agreement was initiated with the objective to establish an open, inclusive, rule-based trade and investment arrangement. It is expected that, within the RCEP framework it will help to lead countries in the region to achieve a remarkable level of opening-up in trade of goods, services, and investment, greatly boost liberalization and facilitation for trade and investment among member countries, and enhance the overall attractions and competitiveness of the region.

This newsletter summarizes the key points of this RCEP Agreement, discusses the impact it may bring and shares with you our observations.

For more information, please contact your usual EY contact or one of the EY’s China tax leaders in the list attached at the end of this tax alert.