Southeast Asia to Taiwan: Duties, Import Rules and ASTEP Relief

Rates and import rules for ten popular items

Import taxes are assessed on the customs value (CIF = goods price + international freight + insurance): customs duty = customs value × rate; business tax = (customs value + customs duty) × 5%. A customs value of NT$2,000 or less is exempt from customs duty and business tax.

Column I is the general rate; column II is the rate applied to countries that have concluded an agreement with Taiwan or are granted preferential treatment — for the ten items above the column II list includes Singapore in every case and includes no other Southeast Asian country. The tariff number and the applicable rate are as determined by the Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance; click a tariff number to see the full rates and import rules.

ASTEP: in Southeast Asia only Singapore is on the list

Many people assume that because Southeast Asia is close to Taiwan and trades heavily with it, duties must be lower across the board. Checking the tariff shows otherwise: of the six Southeast Asian countries only Singapore has an economic partnership agreement with Taiwan (ASTEP, in force since 2013), so only Singapore can take the column II preferential rate.

• How to spot it in the tariff: every number in the customs import tariff carries a column I and a column II rate, and the bracket after column II lists the codes of the countries it applies to — SG is Singapore. For the ten numbers on this page column II is 0% in every case and the list always includes SG.
• Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines are all absent: apart from Singapore, not one Southeast Asian country appears in the column II lists of these ten numbers. Goods originating in those countries therefore take the column I general rate, the same figure shown in the left-hand rate column of the table above.
• For some items the Singapore concession is a reduction rather than 0%: other rice noodles (1902.30.20.00-7), for example, carry a column I specific duty of NT$49 per kilogram, while column II for Singapore is NT$6.5 per kilogram and other agreement countries still pay NT$49 per kilogram. The depth of the concession differs line by line, so each line has to be checked.
• It is not applied automatically: to obtain the ASTEP rate the goods must be of Singapore origin, must fall within the concession schedule of the agreement and must be supported by a certificate of origin as required, with Customs making the final determination. Buying something in a shop in Singapore does not make it of Singapore origin.

The column II list covers a number of countries that have an agreement with Taiwan or are granted preferential treatment, and Singapore is only one of them; for some tariff numbers column II also lists further categories such as least developed countries (LDCs).

Instant noodles: MW0 with or without meat

Indonesian instant noodles, Vietnamese pho noodles and Malaysian bak kut teh noodles are among the most popular gifts brought back from Southeast Asia. The version circulating online is that the ones with meat cannot be shipped while the meat-free ones can, but for forwarding on the China route that test is wrong.

• Both tariff numbers carry MW0: instant noodles containing meat (1902.30.10.10-7) and instant noodles not containing meat (1902.30.10.20-5) both take a column I duty of 20% and both carry the import rules F01 + MW0. The wording of MW0 is exactly this: goods of mainland China not permitted to be imported.
• What that means for this site: HowBridge currently ships only from China, out of the Shenzhen consolidation warehouse, to Taiwan, so instant noodles cannot use our forwarding service whether or not they contain meat — what blocks them is MW0, a restriction on import from mainland China, and it has nothing to do with meat in the noodles. Rice noodles and other noodle strips (1902.30.20.00-7, 1902.30.90.00-2) carry MW0 in the same way.
• Products containing meat are also subject to animal product quarantine rules: this is a second body of rules running parallel to MW0, administered by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, which controls the import and posting of foods containing meat. Whether an item may in fact be imported, and what has to be filed, is governed by the rules that agency publishes.

The test comes down to a single sentence: look at the import rule on that product tariff line, not at its ingredients or its culinary style. It is the same reasoning that places British black tea and sweet biscuits under MW0.

B01 quarantine inspection is not an import ban

Durian, mangosteen and edible bird nest are often described as impossible to ship, but what the tariff shows is B01, and the wording of B01 is not a prohibition: it requires the goods to be handled under the quarantine regulations. The two are very different things.

• The text of B01: on importation, the goods shall be handled in accordance with the schedule of animals and plants subject to quarantine inspection compiled by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, and the relevant quarantine regulations — that is subject to quarantine inspection, not prohibited from import. Whether an item can in fact enter, and what must be filed, depends on how it is listed in the agency schedule.
• Fresh durian (0810.60.00.00-7) and mangosteen (0804.50.30.00-1): both take a column I duty of 17% and both carry B01 + F01. Meeting the fresh fruit quarantine requirements on a personal postal shipment is not easy, and switching to a dried, processed or canned version is usually far simpler.
• For edible bird nest it depends on further processing: bird nest not further processed (0410.90.10.10-1) carries B01 + F01, while other edible bird nest (0410.90.10.90-4) carries only F01. Both take a column I duty of 20%; the difference is whether an animal and plant quarantine step is added.
• Fresh cashew nuts also carry B01: fresh cashew nuts, shelled (0801.32.10.00-1) take a column I duty of 16% with B01 and F01; dried cashew nuts, shelled (0801.32.20.00-9) take a column I duty of 10% and carry only F01. What is sold as a snack is mostly the latter, which is in fact the lower-duty line.

This site does not file animal and plant quarantine or food import inspection applications on your behalf. The regulatory wording above is quoted from our customs import tariff import-rule database; what actually applies is governed by the announcements of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, Ministry of Agriculture and of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Three most commonly misclassified tariff lines

Get the classification wrong and both the rate you calculate and the documents you prepare will be wrong. These three are the misclassifications seen most often with Southeast Asian goods, and each can be opened and checked line by line.

• Cashews are not 2008.19: the description of 2008.19.90.10-6 is watermelon seeds otherwise prepared or preserved, column I 20% — those are melon seeds, not cashews. The shelled dried cashews sold as snacks belong under 0801.32.20.00-9, column I 10%, exactly half the duty rate.
• A latex pillow is not woollen bedding: the description of 9404.90.00.11-2 is other bedding and similar furnishing, of wool. A latex pillow is not wool, so the line to look up is the one for other materials, 9404.90.00.90-6 (column I is likewise 6.8%), with import rules C02 + M88. The rate happens to be the same, but with the wrong number the import rules and inspection requirements you read off it may be wrong as well.
• Edible bird nest cannot be reduced to one tariff number: the description of 0410.90.10.10-1 says explicitly not further processed, and it carries one quarantine step, B01, more than other edible bird nest. Classifying processed or canned bird nest under this number simply invites a quarantine procedure that does not apply to it.

Actual classification is determined by Customs on the basis of the material, the degree of processing and the intended use of the goods; the numbers on this page are given for reference. Before you order, use our tariff lookup to confirm the number, the rate and the import rules.

Can you buy Southeast Asian goods on Chinese marketplaces

Chinese marketplaces do carry Southeast Asian coffee, cashews, dried fruit, edible bird nest and latex bedding. Whether any of it can be shipped to Taiwan through the Shenzhen warehouse is settled the same way, by the import rule on the tariff line.

• Instant noodles, rice noodles and noodle strips: no. The whole 1902.30 group carries MW0, goods of mainland China not permitted to be imported, and meat content is irrelevant.
• Bedding: it depends on the paperwork. Other bedding and similar furnishing (9404.90.00.90-6) carries C02, meaning some goods under this line are subject to import inspection announced by the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and M88, meaning imports from mainland China require a document filed for reference with the International Trade Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs. M88 is a document requirement aimed specifically at goods arriving from mainland China.
• Coffee, cashews and edible bird nest: no MW0 on the tariff line, but the F01 import inspection is not waived merely because the parcel leaves from China, and bird nest not further processed additionally carries B01 quarantine.
• Counterfeit and provenance risk is yours to manage: Southeast Asian brands of coffee, skincare and health supplements are widely faked on cross-border marketplaces, and edible bird nest carries a further risk of adulteration. Counterfeits may be seized at Customs and trademark owners may assert their rights; that risk and its consequences rest with the buyer.

The same product shipped from a different country can fall under completely different import rules — MW0 and M88 are both triggered only on import from mainland China, and that is the layer most easily overlooked on the China route.

Practical routes for buying Southeast Asian goods

Frequently asked questions