Jewelry Import Tax to Taiwan: 0% Tariff, CITES Rules & Customs Valuation

11 Jewelry Tariff Rates Compared (with Clickable Tariff Codes)

Import duties are based on the dutiable value (CIF = goods value + international freight + insurance): tariff = dutiable value × tariff rate; business tax = (dutiable value + tariff) × 5%. Chapter 71 tariffs are uniformly 0%, so the only cost left is 5% business tax—and pure gold items are exempt even from that.

The tariff codes and rates above are drawn from our import tariff database, synchronized with the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance; the applicable rate is still subject to customs determination. Click a tariff code to see the full rate and import rules for that code. Chapter 71 has 81 codes in total; apart from one code under heading 7112 (waste and scrap of precious metal) at 6.5%, all other first-column tariffs are 0%.

0% Tariff: So Where Does the Real Cost Come From

An earlier version of this page—like many articles online—stated jewelry tariffs as "5%–10%" and built cost estimates on that basis. Checking the actual tariff schedule, every first-column tariff under Chapter 71 is 0%—that cost simply does not exist. What actually adds to your bill is the items below.

• 5% business tax (except pure gold): charged once the dutiable value exceeds NT$2,000, and it applies to the entire dutiable value, not just the amount over the threshold.
• The dutiable value includes shipping: dutiable value is CIF-based, so international freight and insurance are added on top of the goods value—not just what you paid for the item.
• 0.04% trade promotion service fee: a small amount, but it is real.
• The customs-assessed value may exceed what you declared: jewelry prices vary enormously, so when a declared price looks obviously low, customs will reassess it—this is the most common cost surprise for high-value jewelry.
• Local taxes and refunds: the real price difference usually comes from the origin side—local consumption tax, whether a refund is available, and labor cost—not from import tax on the Taiwan side.

In other words: where you should focus your effort on jewelry imports is "proving value" and "whether it can be shipped at all," not "what percentage the tariff is."

CITES and Jewelry You Cannot Import

To clear up a common misunderstanding first: CITES (the Washington Convention) regulates international trade in "wildlife species"—mineral gemstones are structurally outside its scope entirely. The actual legal basis on the Taiwan side is the Wildlife Conservation Act—live wildlife and products made from protected wildlife may not be imported or exported without the consent of the central competent authority (Article 24, Paragraph 1).

• 🔴 Jade is not a CITES species: CITES regulates wildlife, and jade is a mineral—structurally it cannot be listed under any Appendix. An earlier version of this page stated that Burmese jade is "restricted under CITES Appendix III," which was wrong. Burmese jade is subject to separate sanctions or country-of-origin rules in some countries, but that has nothing to do with CITES—do not conflate the two.
• 🔴 Red coral is not banned across the board: an earlier version of this page stated that "Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum) is CITES Appendix III and banned in Taiwan"—in fact, Mediterranean red coral is not listed under any CITES Appendix; the four species of Pacific precious coral listed under Appendix III (effective July 1, 2008) are a different matter, and Appendix III requires a country-of-origin certificate from the exporting country, not a ban. Taiwan itself is a legal, quota-managed production area for precious coral, regulated under the Fisheries Act system (Regulations Governing Fishing Vessels Concurrently Engaged in Coral Fishing), and is not on the list of protected species under the Wildlife Conservation Act.
• Rosewood and ebony prayer beads: the genus Dalbergia has been listed in its entirety under CITES Appendix II since 2017, and Pterocarpus santalinus (red sandalwood) is also under Appendix II, but CITES Annotation #15 exempts "finished products weighing 10 kg or less per shipment" and "finished musical instruments and their parts and accessories," so not every finished bead bracelet requires a permit. These are also plants, so the Wildlife Conservation Act—which only governs animals—does not apply; the competent authority for import controls is the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs.
• Amber: amber is fossilized resin and falls outside the scope of CITES. The Cultural Heritage Preservation Act in Taiwan has a case-by-case designation mechanism for "natural monuments" (Articles 3 and 78), but no case of amber being designated or registered under it could be found—ordinary commercially sold amber gemstones are not subject to special conservation regulation. An earlier version of this page stated that "a small number are regulated as paleontological heritage," which lacked sufficient evidence and has been removed.

🔴 Pay close attention to exactly which conduct is penalized: importing or exporting products of protected wildlife without the consent of the central competent authority is punishable under Article 40, Item 1 of the Wildlife Conservation Act by imprisonment for 6 months to 5 years, which may be combined with a fine of NT$300,000 to NT$1,500,000. Importantly, this item does not require "intent to sell" as an element (that requirement applies to Item 2 of the same article, covering buying, selling, displaying, and exhibiting), so "I only wear it myself" is not a defense. The competent authorities also differ by domain: terrestrial species fall under the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency, Ministry of Agriculture; marine species fall under the Ocean Conservation Administration, Ocean Affairs Council; and CITES import/export permits are issued by the Bureau of Foreign Trade, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

How to Read GIA/HRD/IGI Certificates

A certification report serves as an identity card for a gemstone, and it is one of the strongest pieces of evidence when customs assesses dutiable value. Below are the three most widely circulated labs internationally; this section only describes their positioning and scope—it does not list fees, since rates at each lab vary by carat weight, service type, and submission location, and figures circulating online are mostly outdated.

• GIA (Gemological Institute of America): founded in the United States in 1931, creator of the 4C grading system, and the most widely accepted certificate for natural diamonds, fancy color diamonds, and lab-grown diamonds; reports state whether a stone is lab-grown.
• HRD (Diamond High Council, Belgium): founded in Antwerp, Belgium in 1973, with the highest circulation in Europe; diamonds purchased in Europe are often accompanied by this certificate.
• IGI (International Gemological Institute): founded in Antwerp, Belgium in 1975, internationally recognized, and commonly used for bulk grading of lab-grown diamonds and finished mounted jewelry.
• Others: EGL and AGS are common in the US market; NGTC is the National Gemstone Testing Center of China and is mainstream in the mainland China market. Colored gemstones also have specialist labs such as GRS and SSEF.
• Do not buy an expensive gemstone without a certificate: without a certificate, you have no way to confirm quality, and customs also loses its most direct evidence when assessing value.

Note: a certificate proves "the grade of this stone," not "that this transaction was fairly priced." When customs assesses dutiable value, it looks at transaction documents; the certificate is supporting evidence.

Import Essentials for 7 Major Jewelry Categories

Below is a category-by-category breakdown. Tariff rates are always based on our tariff database—first-column tariffs are all 0%; the differences lie only in business tax and whether an item can be shipped at all.

The tariff classification of any given item is subject to determination by customs; when materials are mixed (for example, gemstones set in silver, or diamonds set in gold-filled metal), classification is based on the primary material and processing method.

How Customs Assesses the Dutiable Value of Jewelry

The real hurdle in jewelry imports is not the tariff rate (the first column is 0%) but "how much is this shipment worth" and "do you have a declaration obligation." Jewelry is among the most price-dispersed categories of goods, so customs valuation and declaration rules are stricter than for ordinary items.

• Valuation follows a statutory order: under the Customs Act, the transaction value of the imported goods is the basis for computing dutiable value (Article 29); only when the transaction value is not accepted does customs move, in order, to the transaction value of identical goods (Article 31), the transaction value of similar goods (Article 32), the domestic selling price (Article 33), the computed value (Article 34), and finally a reasonable method (Article 35).
• Dutiable value is not just the price of the goods: under Article 29, freight, loading and unloading charges, handling fees, insurance, as well as commissions, service fees, container and packing costs, and royalties paid separately by the buyer must all be included in the dutiable value.
• The tax-free threshold is a threshold, not an allowance: postal imports with a dutiable value within NT$2,000 are exempt from tariff (Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Imported and Exported Postal Articles, Article 7); two or more parcels sent by the same sender to the same recipient on the same day must be combined for calculation (Article 11); and if the same recipient imports frequently within a six-month period, customs may decide the exemption does not apply (Article 12).
• 🆕 High-value jewelry also carries an anti-money-laundering declaration obligation (not mentioned at all in the earlier version of this page): under the Regulations Governing the Declaration and Reporting of Cross-Border Transportation of Money Laundering Control Items, gold with a total value exceeding the equivalent of US$20,000 (Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 4), or items with a total value exceeding the equivalent of NT$500,000 that qualify as "diamonds, gemstones, and platinum beyond the purpose of personal use" (Article 2; Article 3, Paragraph 1, Item 5), must be declared to customs. Moreover, Article 3, Paragraph 2 explicitly states that goods transported by freight, courier, or mail are equally subject to declaration—the requirement is not limited to passengers carrying items on their person.
• You cannot choose your clearance channel: C1 is exempt from document review and inspection, C2 requires document review, and C3 requires physical inspection; the customs computer risk-assessment system decides which channel applies. High-value jewelry with a suspiciously low declared price naturally has a higher chance of being routed to C2 or C3.
• Counterfeits: administrative confiscation has no personal-use exception: declaring for import goods that are not genuine parallel imports and that infringe trademark, patent, or copyright rights can, under Article 39-1 of the Customs Anti-smuggling Act, result in a fine of up to three times the value of the goods and confiscation of the goods; on the criminal side, Article 97 of the Trademark Act requires "intent to sell" as an element. In other words: personal use does not trigger criminal liability under that article, but administrative confiscation carries no exception for personal use—you still do not get the goods back.
• Courier imports require completing an authorization first: under Article 17 of the Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Air Courier Cargo, customs declaration authorization must be completed through one of: written authorization, online authorization via the Customs, Port and Trade Single Window, or online authorization via the real-name-verified platform (EZ WAY); if this is not completed, customs may refuse to accept the declaration.

Legal sources: Customs Act (regulation code G0350001), Articles 29, 31–35; Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Imported and Exported Postal Articles (G0350072), Articles 7, 11, 12; Regulations Governing the Declaration and Reporting of Cross-Border Transportation of Money Laundering Control Items (G0350065), Articles 2, 3; Customs Anti-smuggling Act (G0350029), Article 39-1; Trademark Act (J0070001), Article 97; Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Air Courier Cargo (G0350064), Article 17. The actual determination remains subject to customs.

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