Effective July 1! GAC Decision on Revising Certain Regulations

According to the official website of the General Administration of Customs (GAC), GAC Order No. 263 has been issued, announcing the decision to amend three regulations: the Provisions of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein, the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of Export Supervised Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein, and the Measures for the Administration of Random Inspection of Import and Export Commodities. These amendments take effect from July 1, 2023. Details are as follows:

Original announcement: http://www.customs.gov.cn//customs/302249/2480148/5043425/index.html GAC Order No. 262

(Promulgated by GAC Order No. 263 on May 15, 2023, effective from July 1, 2023)

To implement the guiding principles of the 20th National Congress of the CPC, support the high-quality development of bonded warehouses and export supervised warehouses, and improve the relevant requirements for random inspection of import and export commodities, the GAC has decided to amend the Provisions of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein, the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of Export Supervised Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein, and the Measures for the Administration of Random Inspection of Import and Export Commodities. The specific amendments are as follows:

I. Amendments to the Provisions of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein (promulgated by GAC Order No. 105, as amended by GAC Orders No. 198, No. 227, No. 235, and No. 240):

(I) Article 5: 'The following goods may be stored in bonded warehouses with customs approval' is amended to read: 'The following bonded goods and other goods for which customs formalities have not been completed may be stored in bonded warehouses.'

(II) Article 8, Item 1 is amended to read: '(1) Having obtained business entity status.'

(III) The phrase ', and receive customs training' in Article 15 is deleted.

(IV) Article 17 is amended to read: 'Where the name or entity type of the bonded warehouse operating enterprise or the name of the bonded warehouse changes, the bonded warehouse operating enterprise shall complete the change procedures with the competent customs office within 30 days from the date of such change.

'Where the address, storage area (volume), or other particulars of a bonded warehouse change, the bonded warehouse operating enterprise shall submit a change application to the competent customs office in advance and complete the change procedures.

'Where the type of a bonded warehouse changes, the relevant provisions of Chapter II on the establishment of bonded warehouses in these Provisions shall apply. Customs shall cancel the previous registration, and withdraw the original Bonded Warehouse Registration Certificate.'

(V) Article 23: 'With customs approval, warehouse release procedures may be completed, and customs shall manage and release the goods in accordance with the corresponding provisions' is amended to read: 'With customs approval, the relevant customs procedures may be completed.' Article 23, Item 2 is amended to read: '(2) Transported to a domestic customs special supervision area or bonded supervision site for continued bonded supervision.' One paragraph is added as the second paragraph: 'Where customs formalities for bonded warehouse goods have been completed, the consignor/consignee shall remove the goods from the bonded warehouse within the time limit specified by customs. Under special circumstances, the removal period may be extended with customs consent.'

(VI) Article 29, Item 1 is amended to read: '(1) Storing in a bonded warehouse, without authorization, goods other than those specified in Article 5 of these Provisions.' Item 2 is amended to read: '(2) Violating the provisions of Article 13 of these Provisions.' Item 3 is amended to read: '(3) Improperly managing bonded warehouse goods with unclear accounts.' Item 4 is amended to read: '(4) Failing to complete customs procedures in accordance with Article 17 of these Provisions.'

(VII) A new article is added as Article 30: 'Where a consignor/consignee fails to remove bonded warehouse goods for which customs formalities have been completed from the bonded warehouse within the specified time limit, customs shall order rectification and may issue a warning or impose a fine of not more than RMB 10,000.'

(VIII) A new article is added as Article 33: 'Customs supervision of bonded warehouses conducted in accordance with the law shall not affect the performance of corresponding duties by local governments and other authorities in accordance with the law.'

II. Amendments to the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of Export Supervised Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein (promulgated by GAC Order No. 133, as amended by GAC Orders No. 227, No. 235, No. 240, and No. 243):

(I) Article 7: 'The following goods may be stored in export supervised warehouses with customs approval' is amended to read: 'The following goods for which customs export formalities have been completed may be stored in export supervised warehouses.' Article 7, Item 3 is amended to read: '(3) Export goods transferred from other customs special supervision areas or bonded supervision sites.'

(II) Article 9, Item 1 is amended to read: '(1) Having obtained business entity status, with a business scope that includes warehousing operations'; Item 2 is deleted; the original Item 3 becomes Item 2.

(III) The reference in Article 11 to 'Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Implementing the Administrative Licensing Law of the People's Republic of China' is amended to read 'Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Licensing.'

(IV) Article 12, Paragraph 2, Item 1: 'Article 9, Item 3 of these Measures' is amended to read 'Article 9, Item 2 of these Measures.'

(V) The phrase ', and receive customs training' in Article 17 is deleted.

(VI) Article 19 is amended to read: 'Where the name or entity type of the export supervised warehouse operating enterprise or the name of the export supervised warehouse changes, the export supervised warehouse operating enterprise shall complete the change procedures with the competent customs office within 30 days from the date of such change.

'Where the address, storage area, or other particulars of an export supervised warehouse change, the export supervised warehouse operating enterprise shall submit a change application to the competent customs office in advance and complete the change procedures.

'Where the type of an export supervised warehouse changes, the relevant provisions of the Measures shall apply. Customs shall cancel the previous registration, and withdraw the original Export Supervised Warehouse Registration Certificate.'

(The remaining portions of GAC Order No. 263 have been truncated.)