The Rules of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Consolidated Declaration of Import and Export Goods, which were deliberated and adopted at the Executive Meeting of the General Administration of Customs on January 4, 2008, are hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of May 1, 2008.

Mu Xinsheng
Minister
General Administration of Customs

January 24, 2008

Rules of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Consolidated Declaration of Import and Export Goods

(Adopted at the Executive Meeting of the General Administration of Customs on January 4, 2008, promulgated in the form of Decree No. 169 of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on January 24, 2008, and effective as of May 1, 2008)

Article 1  These Rules are formulated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Customs Law of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Customs Law) with a view to facilitating the declaration procedures for consignees and consignors of import and export goods, raising the Customs clearance efficiency for import and export goods, and regulating the administration of declaration of import and export goods.

Article 2  The term “consolidated declaration” referred to in these Rules means a special model of Customs clearance where, after making relevant recordation with Customs, a consignee or consignor of import or export goods (hereinafter referred to as the consignee or consignor), who intends to import or export goods within the scope prescribed in Article 3 of these Rules in multiple batches via one and the same port, may firstly make declaration for the import or export goods batch by batch upon the strength of a Form for Consolidated Declaration of Import Goods of the Customs of the People’s Republic of China (see Annex1) or a Form for Consolidated Declaration of Export Goods of the Customs of the People’s Republic of China (see Annex 2) (hereinafter referred to collectively as the Form for Consolidated Declaration), and then go through the Customs formalities for multiple batches of the goods in a consolidated manner upon the strength of a Customs declaration form.

The consignee or consignor of import or export goods may entrust a Customs broker company classified under the management category of Class B or above to go through the Customs procedures in relation to consolidated declaration.

Article 3  After a recordation is made with Customs, the following import or export goods may apply the clearance model of consolidated declaration:

(a) books, newspapers, periodicals and other goods with a strong requirement of timeliness;

(b) hazardous articles, or goods not suitable for long-time storage, such as those fresh and live, decayable, perishable, or likely to lose efficacy; and

(c) bonded goods shipped into or out of the Chinese mainland via roadway ports.

Article 4  The consignee or consignor shall go through the formalities of recordation for consolidated declaration with the Customs house at the place of location of the goods, whereas enterprises engaging in processing trade shall go through such formalities with the competent Customs house.

Article 5  In going through the formalities of recordation for consolidated declaration, the consignee or consignor shall submit to Customs a Recordation Form of Applicability of Consolidated Declaration (hereinafter referred to as the Recordation Form; see Annex 3), and provide a bond with a period of validity of no less than three (3) months that meets the requirements of Customs.

Customs shall conduct an examination of the Recordation Form so submitted by the consignee or consignor. Where, upon examination, the form meets the requirements as specified in the relevant provisions of these Rules, Customs shall approve the recordation.

Where goods listed in Article 3 of these Rules are imported or exported by a consignee or consignor who is under investigation in a case filed by Customs due to suspicion of smuggling or non-compliant behavior, given an administrative penalty by Customs as prescribed by law due to import or export of IPR-infringing goods, or put under the management category of Class C or D, the clearance model of consolidated declaration shall not apply.

Article 6  The consignee or consignor may apply the clearance model of consolidated declaration within the period of validity of the recordation. The period of validity of the recordation shall be examined and determined in light of the period of validity of the bond provided by the consignee or consignor.

Where a change has occurred to the goods for which the recordation for consolidated declaration is made or to the bond provided, the consignee or consignor shall file a written application for alteration with the Customs with which the original recordation has been made.

The period of validity of a recordation may be extended upon expiration. Where the consignee or consignor still needs to apply the method of consolidated declaration to go through the Customs clearance formalities after the expiration of a recordation, a written application for extension shall, ten (10) days before the expiration of the period of validity of the recordation, be filed with the Customs with which the original recordation has been made.

Article 7  Where any of the following circumstances occurs to the consignee or consignor, the clearance model of consolidated declaration shall no longer be applicable to the consignee or consignor:

(a) A change has occurred to the bond, and the consignee or consignor is unable to provide an effective bond thereafter;

(b) The consignee or consignor is suspected of smuggling or non-compliant behavior and is therefore under investigation in a case filed by Customs;

(c) The consignee or consignor has been given an administrative penalty by Customs as prescribed by law due to import or export of IPR-infringing goods; or

(d) The management category of the consignee or consignor accorded by Customs is degraded to Class C or D.

Within the period of validity of the recordation, the consignee or consignor may, on his/her/its own initiative, apply to terminate the application of consolidated declaration.

Article 8  Where the consignee or consignor fails to, prior to the expiration of the period of validity of the recordation, file an application for extension with the Customs with which the original recordation has been made, the Recordation Form shall become invalid. Where the consignee or consignor still needs to apply the method of consolidated declaration to go through the Customs clearance formalities after the expiration, a new application for recordation shall be filed with Customs.

Article 9  The consignee or consignor who applies the method of consolidated declaration to go through the Customs clearance formalities as prescribed by these Rules shall, in the case of import, within 14 days as from the day when the means of transport carrying the relevant import goods is declared for entry, or in the case of export, 24 hours before loading once the relevant export goods have arrived at Customs control premises, fill out a Form for Consolidated Declaration and declare to Customs.

Where the consignee declares to Customs 14 days after the means of transport is declared for entry, the clearance model of consolidated declaration shall no longer be applicable. In such a case, the consignee shall declare to Customs using a Customs declaration form instead.

Article 10  In examining the electronic data contained in a Form for Consolidated Declaration, in the case of bonded goods, Customs shall check and write off the relevant data contained in the Processing Trade Handbooks (or Account Books) or in the electronic account books. In the case of goods under the category of general trade, Customs shall check the data recorded for consolidated declaration.

Where, upon examination, it is found that the electronic data contained in a Form for Consolidated Declaration is inconsistent with those recorded for consolidated declaration, Customs shall reject the form. In such a case, the consignee or consignor shall declare to Customs using a Customs declaration form instead.

Article 11  The consignee or consignor shall, within three (3) days upon Customs’ completion of examination of the electronic data of the Form for Consolidated Declaration, go to the Customs at the place of location of the goods for the procedures of documents presentation and goods release upon the strength of the Form for Consolidated Declaration and the relevant documents attached to the form. Where the goods are subject to license management, the consignee or consignor shall also present the license documents accordingly. Customs shall then note its remarks on the relevant documents and keep a photocopy thereof.

Where the consignee or consignor fails to, within the time limit as prescribed in paragraph 1 of this Article, go through the relevant Customs formalities, Customs shall delete the electronic data of the Form for Consolidated Declaration, and the consignee or consignor shall redeclare to Customs. Where the redeclartion is made 14 days after the means of transport is declared for entry, the consignee or consignor shall make the redeclaration using a Customs declaration form.

Article 12  Where a consignee or consignor applies for alteration or revocation of a Form for Consolidated Declaration after declaration is made using the form, the procedures shall be handled in reference to the relevant provisions of the Rules of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Alteration and Revocation of Declaration Forms.

Article 13  Each month the consignee or consignor shall consolidate the data declared during the month using Forms for Consolidated Declaration, fill out a Customs declaration form for the import or export goods, and go through the formalities of consolidated declaration with Customs prior to the 10th day of the next month in the case of goods under the category of general trade, or before the end of the next month in the case of bonded goods.

With respect to goods under the category of general trade, the handling of formalities for consolidated declaration shall not be carried over to the next year.

Article 14  Where Forms for Consolidated Declaration are consolidated into a single declaration form, items contained in the forms, such as port of entry/exit, entity engaging in import/export trade, domestic consignee/consignor, category of trade (category of Customs control), country/region of departure, port of loading, country/region of destination, mode of transportation, as well as the applicable tariff rate, tax rate and exchange rate, shall be consistent.

Where any items contained in the forms, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph of this Article, are inconsistent, the consignee or consignor shall consolidate the forms into different declaration forms to make the declaration. Where some items are unconsolidatable, separate declaration forms shall be filled out accordingly to make the declaration.

Where the forms are consolidated into a single declaration form, if such items contained in the forms as the commodity code, commodity name, specification, model, unit, country/region of origin, unit price and currency are all consistent, the relevant quantity and total value may be added up.

Article 15  In using a Customs declaration form to go through the Customs formalities for goods declared in Forms for Consolidated Declaration, if duties and/or taxes are leviable on the goods, the consignee or consignor shall also, in accordance with Customs provisions, go through the duty and/or tax payment formalities for the goods. Where the goods are subject to license management, the license documents noted by Customs shall also be submitted accordingly.

Article 16  For goods that are applicable for the clearance model of consolidated declaration, Customs shall, in calculating the relevant duties, taxes and charges, apply the tariff rate, tax rate and exchange rate valid for the day on which it accepts the declaration of the Forms for Consolidated Declaration.

Article 17  Once a consignee or consignor has completed the Customs formalities of consolidated declaration, Customs shall, based on the consolidated declaration form of import or export goods, issue a certification copy of the declaration form. The day when Customs accepts the declaration made using a Customs declaration form shall be regarded as the “date of import/export”.

Article 18  In compiling Customs statistics, with respect to goods declared in a consolidated way, Customs shall take the “date of import/export” specified in the Customs declaration form as the date of import or export of the goods.

Article 19  Where goods are shipped into special Customs control areas or bonded Customs control premises from other areas of the Chinese mainland, if the goods need to be declared in a consolidated way in going through the Customs procedures, those procedures shall be handled in reference to these Rules unless otherwise provided for by Customs.

Article 20  Acts in violation of these Rules that constitute smuggling, breaches of provisions on Customs control or other breaches of the Customs Law, shall be dealt with by Customs in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law, the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Implementing Customs Administrative Penalty and other relevant laws and administrative regulations. Where such an act constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be imposed accordingly.

Article 21  The right of interpretation of these Rules shall remain with the General Administration of Customs.

Article 22  These Rules shall come into force as of May 1, 2008.

Annexes:

1. Form for Consolidated Declaration of Import Goods of the Customs of the People’s Republic of China

2. Form for Consolidated Declaration of Export Goods of the Customs of the People’s Republic of China

3. Recordation Form of Applicability of Consolidated Declaration

 

 

 

Requirements for Applicant Companies:

 

First, a consignee or consignor shall go through the recordation formalities in accordance with the relevant provisions of Articles 4 and 5 of the Rules of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Consolidated Declaration of Import and Export Goods (hereinafter referred to as the Rules).

 

Second, the import or export goods for which an application is filed for consolidated declaration in going through the relevant Customs formalities shall meet the requirements as prescribed in Article 3 of the Rules.

 

Third, a consignee or consignor who is applying for consolidated declaration shall meet the requirements as specified in Article 5 of the Rules.

 

Instructions for Filling in the Form:

 

1. File No.: 12 digits. The 1^st to 4^th digits represent the code of the regional Customs making the examination and approval. The 5^th to12th digits are just serial numbers. Please don’t fill in this item, because the file number will be generated automatically by the system.

 

2. Applicant company: the Chinese name of the applicant company registered with Customs.

 

3. Enterprise No.: the 10-digit number accorded by Customs to the applicant company when it is registered with Customs.

 

4. Category of enterprise: the management category of the applicant company granted by Customs in the classified management system.

 

5. If you are an enterprise that is applying to Customs for consolidated declaration for the first time, please check the □ before “Qualification application”. If you need to alter information contained in a recordation for consolidated declaration already approved by Customs, such as the mode of bond, quota of bond, period of validity of bond, or information on goods of general trade, please check the □ before “Recordation alteration”.

 

6. Enterprises are required to choose either “Goods of general trade” or “Bonded goods” in light of the nature of the goods for which the application for consolidated declaration is filed.

 

7. Bond: (No need to fill in this item if you have checked the □ before “Bonded goods”)

 

(A) Mode of bond. In light of the actual circumstances, please check the □ before “Cash deposit”, “Letter of bond by bank”, or “Letter of bond by non-bank financial institution”.

 

(B) Quota of bond. Please fill in the amount of the bond (RMB). Unit: RMB 10,000 yuan.

 

(C) Period of validity of bond. Please fill in this item in light of the actual circumstances. Format required: 4 digits for Year, 2 digits for Month, and 2 digits for Day.

8. Recordation for goods of general trade: (No need to fill in this item if you have checked the □ before “Bonded goods”)

 

(A) Item number. Please fill in the serial number of the goods for which recordation is made.

 

(B) Commodity code. Please fill in the HS code of the import or export goods determined pursuant to the rules of commodity classification and coding.

 

(C) Commodity name. Please fill in the Chinese commodity name of the goods.

 

(D) Spec & Model. Please fill in the specification and model of the goods. Add notes to it when necessary.

 

(E) Mode of alteration. Fill in this item only when you are applying for recordation alteration. Fill in either “addition” or “termination”, as the case may be:

 

(a) In the case of “addition”, please fill in the corresponding item number, commodity code, commodity name, specification and model of the newly added goods accordingly.

 

(b) In the case of “termination”, please fill in the item number only, which must be the serial number corresponding to the goods originally recorded.