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Provisions of the General Customs Administration of the People's Republic of China on Control over Goods, Means of Conveyance, Luggage and Postal Articles Entering or Leaving the Special Economic

  • Type : Regulation
  • Release Date : 2008-03-05

(Approved by the State Council on March 21, 1986, promulgated by the General Customs Administration on March 25, 1986)



Chapter I General Provisions




  Article 1 These Provisions are formulated with a view to promoting the development of Special Economic Zones, safeguarding national interests and ensuring the smooth progress of socialist construction.




  Article 2 These Provisions shall apply to the four Special Economic Zones: Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou and Xiamen (hereinafter referred to as SEZ)。




  Article 3 Goods, means of conveyance, luggage and postal articles entering or leaving SEZ shall go through the railway stations, road passes, sea ports, aerodromes or post offices where there are Customs establishments and shall be subject to declaration to the Customs and to its supervision and control.




  Article 4 All foreign trade enterprises or production enterprises within SEZ engaged in import or export business shall complete the formalities of registration at the Customs against the documents of approval issued by the foreign economic and trade administrations at the provincial level or above, or by SEZ people's governments.




  If it is necessary, Customs officers may be sent to the aforesaid production enterprises and stationed there for the performance of supervision and control and the conduct of Customs procedures. All such enterprises shall provide necessary offices and accommodations free of charge.




  Regular written reports on the end-use, sales and inventory of the imported goods shall be submitted to the Customs by the enterprises mentioned in Paragraph 1 of this Article for inspection and verification.




  Article 5 Smuggling and other illegal activities carried out by taking advantage of the preferential treatments granted to SEZ by the State are strictly prohibited. The Customs is empowered to inspect, in accordance with the Interim Customs Law [*1] any premises in SEZ which are suspected of concealing smuggled goods.




  Article 6 Goods, means of conveyance, passengers' luggage and personal effects and mails destined to or originated from the non-SEZ areas of China, on their way, from or to foreign countries or regions of Hong Kong and Macao via SEZ, shall be handled in accordance with relevant State regulations on the control of imports and exports.




  Article 7 The Customs establishments in SEZ shall register the statistics of the goods, means of conveyance, passengers' luggage and personal effects, and mails entering and leaving SEZ according to the categories of import, export or transport between SEZ and the non-SEZ areas.




  Chapter II Control over Goods Entering or Leaving SEZ




  Article 8 The consigner or the consignee or his agent shall fill in the Customs declaration forms declaring the goods entering or leaving SEZ and submit the relevant licenses and other documents to the Customs for examination in accordance with pertinent regulations.




  Article 9 The Customs duties and consolidated industrial and commercial taxes (products tax and value added tax) on goods imported by the administrative organs, institutions and enterprises in SEZ for use within SEZ, upon approval of the competent authorities specified by State regulations, shall be dealt with in the following ways:




  (1) No duty and tax shall be levied on the machines, equipment, spare parts, components, materials, fuel and transport vehicles imported for construction and production in SEZ, nor on foodstuffs for the tourism and catering trade and office equipment and means of transport imported in reasonable quantities by enterprises, institutions and administrative organs for their own use.




  (2) Duties and taxes shall be levied at specified rates on goods, spare parts, and components which are subject to import restrictions set by the State, except those imported by enterprises for their own use in production and business operations or by administrative organs and institutions for their own use.




  (3) The departments authorized by the State shall review and determine annual import quotas for goods other than those listed in Items (1) and (2) of this Article, and duties and taxes shall be computed and collected on the goods imported within the set quotas at half of the specified rates, and full-rate duties and taxes shall, according to relevant regulations, be levied on the goods imported beyond the set quotas.




  Article 10 Exemption from export duties shall be granted to export goods produced by enterprises in SEZ.




  Article 11 When the finished products manufactured in SEZ are transferred to non-SEZ areas upon approval according to the relevant State regulations, the consigner or his agent shall declare to the Customs by filling out a declaration form for the transference of goods to other areas from SEZ and submit it together with the approval documents and other relevant papers to the Customs in conformity with the regulations. The aforesaid products shall be released by the Customs after checking.




  Goods imported into SEZ are strictly prohibited from being transferred to other areas for sale unless otherwise stipulated by the State.




  Article 12 Finished products processed or assembled by enterprises in SEZ with raw materials, spare parts, components (hereinafter referred to as materials and parts) imported duty free shall be re-exported.




  Where the finished products mentioned above are transshipped, upon approval, to other areas, payment of duties and taxes shall be calculated on the basis of the imported materials and parts employed in the products.




  Where the products are sold within SEZ, exemption from or payment of duties and taxes on the imported materials and parts shall be handled according to the stipulations in Article 9 of these Provisions. In a case where the consigner or his agent fails to clarify the description, quantities and value of imported materials and parts employed in the products, payment of duties and taxes shall be calculated at such a rate as if the finished products as a whole had been imported.




  Article 13 The consignee or his agent shall declare to the Customs on goods introduced into SEZ from other areas and the Customs shall release such goods after checking.




  Chapter III Control over Means of Conveyance Entering or Leaving SEZ




  Article 14 All ships, trains, vehicles and aircraft entering or leaving SEZ shall be declared to the Customs by the persons in charge, the owners or owners' agents for inspection.




  Article 15 All vehicles and vessels engaged in freight or passenger service or those owned by enterprises or individuals in SEZ for transportation shall be registered for the record at the Customs by the owners of the vehicles and vessels with the approval documents issued by the relevant competent authorities of SEZ together with a list stating the total number of vehicles or vessels, licence numbers, their designations, names of the drivers or of the crew.




  Chapter IV Control over Luggage and Postal Articles Entering and Leaving SEZ




  Article 16 Luggage carried by passengers entering SEZ from abroad or leaving SEZ for abroad and personal articles sent by post from abroad into SEZ or sent abroad by post from SEZ shall all be dealt with according to the Customs rules on the control over the luggage and articles carried by the passengers or postal articles entering or leaving Chinese territories.




  Article 17 Articles intended for the establishment of the persons from abroad who have bought residential houses or have decided to reside in SEZ for a long time shall be declared to the Customs with the certification papers issued by the relevant competent authorities of SEZ. The articles shall be released duty free after Customs inspection if they are verified to be for personal use and within reasonable quantities.




  Article 18 Luggage carried by passengers travelling between SEZ and other areas shall be restricted to reasonable quantities and be released by the Customs after checking.




  Article 19 Personal articles sent by post between SEZ and other areas in both directions shall be in reasonable quantities.




  Chapter V Supplementary Provisions




  Article 20 Smuggling and other infringements upon these Provisions shall be dealt with by the Customs according to the Interim Customs Law [*2] and other relevant regulations. The judicial organs shall investigate the criminal responsibilities of those who violate the criminal law.




  Article 21 The right to interpret these Provisions resides in the General Customs Administration; the Customs establishments in SEZ may, in accordance with these Provisions, formulate specific rules for implementation, which shall be enforced after approval by the General Customs Administration.




  Article 22 These Provisions shall be effective as of April 1, 1986.




  Notes:




  [*1] [*2] The Interim Customs Law has been superseded by the Customs of Law of the People's Republic of China, which was adopted at the 19th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Sixth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on January 22, 1987 - The Editor



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