The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and Serbia has entered into force earlier this month. This is the first FTA signed between China and a Central and Eastern European country.
Under the terms of the FTA, PV modules exported from China are duty-free from the first year.
China's exports of lithium-ion batteries to Serbia are subject to a decreasing duty rate of 0.7% per year until the 10th year at 0%.
China's exports of inverters to Serbia are subject to a declining tax rate of 2% per year until the 5th year of 0% tax.
The above goods applying for preferential tax rates need to apply for the issuance of certificates of origin to the customs visa authorities.
According to publicly available data, Serbia has a population of 7.09 million and a 2023 GDP of $75 billion, making the entire country's economy roughly equivalent to the cities of Taiyuan or Harbin.
However, Serbia is not currently a member of the European Union, having gained EU candidate status in 2012 and begun accession negotiations with the EU in 2014, with the Kosovo issue being the main obstacle to Serbia's accession to the EU, which the EU has said could take place as early as 2025.
In the middle of this month, the EU and Serbia signed strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles.
Despite its own small size, Serbia has an excellent geographic location, with eight countries as neighbors and easy access to land and water transportation. With the close relationship between China and Serbia and the favorable Sino-Serbian trade agreement, it may be a window to open the European market and avoid tariff risks.
Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0w3u7w-SR7t2WdQyKvk9AQ
