The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress ("NPC") has recently issued the Decision on Revising Seven Laws Including the Port Law of the People's Republic of China (the "Decision") for implementation as of the date of promulgation.
According to the Decision, Article 33 of the Law on the Administration of Tax Levying shall be revised as "Taxpayers shall go through the procedures for tax reduction or exemption in accordance with laws and administrative regulations. The decisions on tax reduction or exemption made by the people's governments at various levels, the competent departments of the people's governments at various levels, entities or individuals without authorization in violation of laws and administrative regulations shall be invalid, and the tax authorities shall not execute such decisions and shall also report such matter to the tax authorities of higher levels". Under the Decision, the term "imports under automatic licensing" in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 25 of the Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste has been revised to "non-restricted imports", and the line "For any import of solid waste which is listed in the catalogue of imports under automatic licensing, the procedures for automatic licensing shall be carried out in accordance with the law" in Paragraph 3 of the same article has been deleted. The Decision has also made revisions to five other laws including the Port Law.