On June 13, the State Council convened an executive meeting, which decided on measures to further expand imports to facilitate structural adjustments and improving people’s well-being, and to promote the balanced development of foreign trade. In order to ensure that people can really benefit from the tax reduction, the meeting of the State Council decided to support the import of consumer goods, medicines, rehabilitation equipment, aging care facilities and other equipment relevant to people's livelihood, reduce import tax on some commodities, cut out redundant processes, and eliminate unreasonable price increases. The meeting also decided to increase the imports of technological equipment that could contribute to transformational development. Two months ago, an executive meeting of the State Council decided to cancel tariffs on imported anti-cancer drugs and encourage the import of innovative drugs. Shortly afterwards, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council issued a notice announcing that the import tariffs on 28 anti-cancer drugs would be reduced from 3-6% to zero from May 1.
The meeting held the day before yesterday has three implications: firstly, after the cancellation of tariffs on imported anti-cancer drugs, tax on imported medical equipment will also be reduced, and the specific categories and reduction rate might will be announced later; secondly, the import of medical equipment should cut out redundant processes and eliminate unreasonable price increases. According to the precedent of imported anti-cancer drugs and the trend of medical reform, the centralized procurement of medical equipment by the government may be encouraged in order to reduce the intermediate price increase and lower the actual purchase price for medical institutions. Thirdly, to increase the imports of technological equipment that could contribute to transformational development means that the production of specific key components of medical equipment and raw materials may enjoy tax reduction and even tax exemption.
In December 2015, the three Catalogues concerning import tax policies on major technical equipment were revised again, and for the first time three medical equipment products were included into the Catalogue of Major Technical Equipment and Products under State Support. Thus domestic enterprises importing specific key components and raw materials are exempted from import duties. The three products are superconducting magnetic resonance imaging systems (≥ 1.5T), CTs (≥ 32 slices) and PET-CT with scanners no less than 16 slices. Compared with the 2015 revised version, the newly revised 2017 version has added seven new medical equipment products to the Catalogue of Major Technical Equipment and Products under State Support, and thus specific components and raw materials are exempted from import duties. The seven newly added products are digital mammography X-ray machines, angiographic X-ray imaging equipment, ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography systems, digital X-ray equipment, equipment for real-time navigation during magnetic resonance imaging or CT guided surgery, medical electronic linear accelerators and hemodialysis machines. At present, there are 10 medical equipment products among the first batch to enjoy China’s tax exemption policy on components and raw materials, such as DR panels, X-ray detectors for mammography, superconducting magnets of superconducting magnetic resonance imaging systems, and PET-CT photomultiplier tubes and silicon-based photoelectric conversion chips.
The meeting held the day before yesterday has three implications: firstly, after the cancellation of tariffs on imported anti-cancer drugs, tax on imported medical equipment will also be reduced, and the specific categories and reduction rate might will be announced later; secondly, the import of medical equipment should cut out redundant processes and eliminate unreasonable price increases. According to the precedent of imported anti-cancer drugs and the trend of medical reform, the centralized procurement of medical equipment by the government may be encouraged in order to reduce the intermediate price increase and lower the actual purchase price for medical institutions. Thirdly, to increase the imports of technological equipment that could contribute to transformational development means that the production of specific key components of medical equipment and raw materials may enjoy tax reduction and even tax exemption.
In December 2015, the three Catalogues concerning import tax policies on major technical equipment were revised again, and for the first time three medical equipment products were included into the Catalogue of Major Technical Equipment and Products under State Support. Thus domestic enterprises importing specific key components and raw materials are exempted from import duties. The three products are superconducting magnetic resonance imaging systems (≥ 1.5T), CTs (≥ 32 slices) and PET-CT with scanners no less than 16 slices. Compared with the 2015 revised version, the newly revised 2017 version has added seven new medical equipment products to the Catalogue of Major Technical Equipment and Products under State Support, and thus specific components and raw materials are exempted from import duties. The seven newly added products are digital mammography X-ray machines, angiographic X-ray imaging equipment, ultrasound-guided diffuse optical tomography systems, digital X-ray equipment, equipment for real-time navigation during magnetic resonance imaging or CT guided surgery, medical electronic linear accelerators and hemodialysis machines. At present, there are 10 medical equipment products among the first batch to enjoy China’s tax exemption policy on components and raw materials, such as DR panels, X-ray detectors for mammography, superconducting magnets of superconducting magnetic resonance imaging systems, and PET-CT photomultiplier tubes and silicon-based photoelectric conversion chips.