Sixty items under the categories of automobiles, mobile phones and air-conditioners will be subject to a 100 percent special tariff effective from Friday, the State Council's Customs Tariff Commission said in a statement.

The commission said the introduction of the levy is to counter the damage Japan's action had caused to China's industries.

Japan, in a politically-motivated move, announced earlier this year that it would place emergency tariffs on shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and tatami mat straw, mainly from China.

Despite protests from the Chinese side, Japan refused to withdraw its decision or make any compensation.

Experts have said the special tariffs are not expected to have much influence on Japanese manufacturers because the majority of the Japanese products in the list are also manufactured in China.

But the move will serve as a warning to Japan that protective measures could backfire, the experts said.

The products that would be affected by the special tariffs covers 52 types of automobiles, including sedans and sports utility vehicles, seven types of air-conditioners and all sorts of mobile phones.

Importers of these products need to pay the special tax in addition to the existing tariffs. Imports consumption tax and imports value-added tax for these products will also rise as the base figure for these two taxes will include the special tariffs.

The existing tariff rates on the affected types of automobiles range between 25-80 percent. The rates for the air-conditioners are between 25-40 percent. The rate for mobile phones is set at a unified rate of 12 percent.

The imports consumption tax rate is between 3-5 percent and the imports value-added tax rate is 17 percent.

(chinadaily.com.cn 06/22/2001)