China announced Tuesday it will lower the tariff rate imposed on goods from six members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 9.9 percent on a verage to 8.1 percent as of July 20.

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council said the negotiated tariff rate of China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone will be applied to six ASEAN nations, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.

With the imposition of the tariff rate, the tariff rates on 3,408 types of goods from the six nations will be lower than that for most favored nations.

The negotiated tariff rate for other types of goods from the six countries will be as same as that for most favored nations in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency July 20, 2005)