GACC Announcement 81, 2011 on Ship-Tonnage Taxation from 2012

The Provisional Regulations of the P. R. China on the Levy of Ship Tonnage Taxes" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") shall come into force as of January 1, 2012, and therefore associated issues are hereby announced:

1. From January 1, 2012, ships entering into China's ports from overseas ports (hereinafter referred to as the "dutiable ships") shall pay ship tonnage taxes in accordance with the Regulations.

2. The ship tonnage taxes may be paid within one year, within 90 days, or within 30 days. Operators or their agents of the dutiable ships may choose one of the payment periods.

3. Upon the arrival and declaration of the dutiable ships, the operators or agents shall truthfully fill in the Application for the License of Ship Tonnage Taxes (see the Annex) and submit the following certifying documents:

3.1 International certificates of ships or the Certificate of Registry issued by administrations of maritime affairs.

3.2 Certificates of ship tonnage

Regarding dutiable tugboats, the operators or agents shall also offer materials for such as engine power (kilowatt).

4. The payment periods shall be within 15 days after the customs issuance of the special Pay-in Warrants on Ship Tonnage Taxes (hereinafter referred to as the "pay-in warrant").

Where the expiry date of the payment period is non-working day such as Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the deadline shall be postponed to the first working day after the non-working days or legal holidays.

Where the State Council temporarily adjusts non-working days and working days, the payment period shall be calculated according to the adjusted conditions.

5. After the operators or agents pay ship tonnage taxes, they shall deliver to the Customs the first page of the pay-in warrant which is sealed for proving that a bank has received the tax payment in full.

6. Regarding ships compliant with items 2-4 under Article 9 of the Regulations, the operators or agents shall submit written application or relevant proofs to the customs.

Regarding ships compliant with items 5-8 under Articles 9 and 10 of the Regulations, the operators or agents shall submit relevant proofs with legal validity issued by administrations of maritime affairs, fishing-boat management, or health quarantine, so as to declare the base or reason for tax exemption.

7. The operators or agents of dutiable ships shall undertake the formalities for validity extension of their Licenses of Ship Tonnage Taxes with the governing customs where their extensions occur, based upon their written applications for the extension and upon other certificates.

8. Where applying for pre-issue of the Licenses before payment of the taxes herein, the operators or agents of dutiable ships shall submit to the customs relevant guarantees corresponding to their taxes payable.

9. Before the arrival of their dutiable ships, and with approval by the customs, the operators or agents may apply for declaration in advance by submitting the guarantees on their taxes payable.

10. The period of any guarantee on ship tonnage taxes shall generally be less than six (6) months; however, under special circumstances, the operators or agents may apply to the customs for extension of the period, and they shall fulfill their tax payment within the guarantee period approved by the customs.

11. Where applying for refund of the taxes or interests, the operators or agents of dutiable ships shall submit the following documents to the customs:

11.1 Letter of Application for Tax Refund;

11.2 Original Pay-in Warrant on Ship Tonnage Taxes, and documents certifying the applicable tax refund.

The customs shall, within 30 days from the date of their receiving the refund application, notify the operators or agents of customs approval or disapproval of the tax refund herein.

The operators or agents of dutiable ships shall undertake the formalities for the tax refund with the customs within three (3) months from the date of their receiving the notice on the customs approval thereof.

This Announcement shall come into force as of January 1, 2012.

Annex: Letter of Application for the License of Ship Tonnage Taxes (Omitted)