Promulgation Authorities:  State Council

Promulgation Date:  2018.03.19

Effective Date:  2018.03.19

Validity Status:  valid

Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Affairs Guarantees (Revised in 2018)

Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Customs Affairs Guarantees (Revised in 2018)

(Promulgated under Decree No. 581 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on September 14, 2010 and revised in accordance with the Decision of The State Council on Revising and Abolishing Some Administrative Regulations on March 19, 2018)

Article 1    These Regulations are enacted pursuant to the provisions of the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws for the purposes of standardising Customs affairs guarantee, raising Customs clearance efficiency, and safeguarding Customs supervision and administration.

Article 2    These Regulations shall apply to applications to the Customs for provision of guarantees and undertakings for performance of legal obligations by the parties concerned and processing of Customs affairs guarantees of the parties concerned by the Customs.

Article 3    Customs affairs guarantees shall comply with the principles of compliance, legitimacy, honesty, trustworthiness and unified responsibilities and duties.

Article 4    Under any of the following circumstances, a party concerned may apply to the Customs for provision of guarantees prior to completion of Customs formalities and request for early clearance of goods:

(1) The commodity classification, dutiable value or place of origin of imports and exports has not been determined;

(2) The valid Customs declaration documents have not been provided;

(3) The tax amount has not been paid within the tax payment period;

(4) The late payment fine has not been paid; or

(5) Any other Customs formalities have not been completed.

Where the party concerned is unable to present a permit which is required to be presented pursuant to the restrictive provisions of the State on inbound and outbound goods or articles, and under any other circumstances for which the laws and administrative regulations stipulate that no guarantee shall be made, the Customs shall not process secured clearance.

Article 5    The parties concerned applying for the following specific Customs transactions shall provide guarantee pursuant to Customs provisions:

(1) Transportation enterprises undertaking freight forwarding on Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau highways, undertaking highway transportation of Customs controlled goods within China;

(2) Goods and articles temporarily entering or exiting China;

(3) Goods brought into China for repair and goods exported for processing;

(4) Importation of rental goods;

(5) Transit of goods and vehicles;

(6) Temporary deposit of Customs controlled goods outside Customs controlled areas;

(7) Creating mortgage interests on Customs controlled goods in favour of financial institutions; or

(8) Completing the relevant Customs transactions for bonded goods.

Where a party concerned does not provide guarantee or the guarantee provided by a party concerned does not comply with the provisions, the Customs shall not process a specific Customs transaction set out in the preceding paragraph.

Article 6    Where there are obvious signs that a taxpayer of imports and exports has moved or concealed its taxable goods and other properties within the stipulated tax payment period, the Customs may order the taxpayer to provide guarantee; where the taxpayer is unable to provide guarantee, the Customs shall adopt tax preservation measures pursuant to the law.

Article 7    Where goods, articles or vehicles suspected to be in violation of the law should be or have been confiscated and sealed up by the Customs pursuant to the law, the party concerned may provide guarantee to the Customs and apply for exemption or lifting of the confiscation and sealing.

Where goods, articles or vehicles suspected to be in violation of the law cannot be confiscated or it is inconvenient to confiscate such goods, articles or vehicles, the party concerned or the person-in-charge of the vehicles shall provide guarantee of equivalent value to the Customs; where guarantee of equivalent value is not provided, the Customs may confiscate other properties of the party concerned which are of equivalent value.

Where goods, articles or vehicles suspected to be in violation of the law are prohibited inbound and outbound goods or the original items should be presented as evidence or such goods, articles or vehicles should be confiscated pursuant to the law, the Customs shall not process guarantee formalities.

Article 8    Where a legal person or any other organisation is subject to punishment by the Customs and its legal representative or key person-in-charge leaves China before settlement of the fine or turning over the illegal income or recovery of the amount equivalent to the value of the goods, articles, vehicles used for smuggling pursuant to the law, it shall provide guarantee to the Customs; where guarantee is not provided, the Customs may notify the disembarkation administrative authorities to prevent the legal representative or key person-in-charge from leaving China.

The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall apply to natural persons subject to punishment by the Customs leaving China.

Article 9    Where guarantee is required to be provided for importation of goods which are subject to provisional anti-dumping measures or provisional anti-subsidy measures, or consignees or consignors of imports or exports or intellectual property rights holders complete formalities relating to Customs protection of intellectual property, etc, Customs affairs guarantee formalities shall be completed pursuant to the provisions of these Regulations. Where the laws and administrative regulations have special provisions, such provisions shall prevail.

Article 10    The advanced certified enterprises that have been recognized by the Customs according to the provisions of the General Administration of Customs may apply for exemption from provision of guarantee and shall go through relevant formalities as required by the Customs.

Article 11    Where a party concerned handles multiple Customs transactions of the same type within a certain period, it may apply to the Customs for provision of master guarantee. Where the Customs accepts the master guarantee, the party concerned need not provide guarantee individually for such type of Customs transactions.

The scope of application, guarantee amount, guarantee period, circumstances of termination, etc of master guarantees shall be stipulated by the General Administration of Customs.

Article 12    A party concerned may provide guarantee using properties and rights recognised by the Customs pursuant to the law, the specific scope of collateral and rights shall be stipulated by the General Administration of Customs.

Article 13    Where a party concerned provides guarantee to the Customs in the form of a letter of guarantee, the letter of guarantee shall state the Customs as the beneficiary and the following:

(1) Basic information of the guarantor or the guaranteed party;

(2) Legal obligations for which security interests are created;

(3) Guarantee amount;

(4) Guarantee period;

(5) Guarantee responsibilities; and

(6) Other matters to be explained.

The guarantor shall affix a seal on the letter of guarantee, and state the date.

Article 14    The guarantee provided by a party concerned shall be equivalent to the legal obligations required to be performed, except for the circumstances stipulated in the 2nd paragraph of Article 7 of these Regulations, the guarantee amount shall be determined pursuant to the following standards:

(1) In the case of guarantee provided for early clearance of goods, the guarantee amount shall not exceed the maximum total tax amount that may be borne;

(2) In the case of guarantee provided for specific Customs transactions, the guarantee amount shall not exceed the maximum total tax amount that may be borne or the amount stipulated by the General Administration of Customs;

(3) In the case of guarantee ordered to be provided due to obvious signs that taxable goods and other properties have been moved or concealed, the guarantee amount shall not exceed the maximum total tax amount that may be borne;

(4) In the case of guarantee provided for exemption or lifting of confiscation or sealing of the relevant goods, articles or vehicles, the guarantee amount shall not exceed the amount equivalent to the value of such goods, articles or vehicles; and

(5) In the case of guarantee provided for disembarkation before settlement of fines, turning over of illegal income or recovery of the amount equivalent to the value of the goods, articles or vehicles used for smuggling pursuant to the law, the guarantee amount shall be the amount equivalent to the fine or illegal income or the amount equivalent to the value of goods, articles or vehicles used for smuggling which should be recovered pursuant to the law.

Article 15    A party concerned completing guarantee formalities shall submit a written application and true, legitimate and valid proof for the properties and rights, identity or qualification certificates, etc.

Article 16    The Customs shall examine the relevant properties and rights, etc within five working days from the date of receipt of the materials submitted by the party concerned, and decide on whether the guarantee shall be accepted. Where a party concerned applies for provision of master guarantee, the Customs shall examine the materials within 10 working days and decide on whether the guarantee shall be accepted.

A guarantee which complies with the provisions shall be effective from the date on which the Customs decides on acceptance of the guarantee. Where a guarantee does not comply with the provisions, the Customs shall notify the party concerned in writing of non-acceptance of the guarantee and state the reason.

Article 17    Where the guarantor and the guaranteed party request for amendments to the guarantee contents under special circumstances prior to expiry of the period for performance of legal obligations by the guaranteed party, a written application and the relevant proof materials shall be submitted to the Customs which accepts the guarantee. The Customs shall decide on whether approval shall be granted for the amendments within five working days from the date of receipt of the materials submitted by the party concerned, and notify the party concerned in writing, where the application is not approved, the reason shall be stated.

Article 18    Where the guaranteed party failed to perform the relevant legal obligations within the stipulated period, the Customs may offset from the collateral or the rights pursuant to the law. Where a party concerned provides guarantee in the form of a letter of guarantee, the Customs may directly request the guarantor who is jointly and severally liable to perform guarantee responsibilities.

Performance of guarantee responsibilities by a guarantor does not exempt the guaranteed party from completing the relevant Customs formalities. The Customs shall promptly process the relevant Customs formalities for the guaranteed party.

Article 19    Where the collateral or rights are inadequate for offsetting the relevant legal obligations of the guaranteed party, the Customs shall notify the guaranteed party in writing that it shall provide guarantee separately or perform the legal obligations.

Article 20    Under any of the following circumstances, the Customs shall notify the party concerned in writing that it is required to complete the formalities for refund of the collateral or rights:

(1) The party concerned has performed the relevant legal obligations;

(2) The party concerned no longer engages in specific Customs transactions;

(3) There is remaining collateral or rights following offsetting by the Customs; or

(4) Any other circumstances under which there is a need for refund.

Article 21    Where the party concerned failed to complete formalities for refund without a proper reason within three months from the date of service of the written notice of the Customs on completion of the formalities for refund of the collateral or rights, the Customs shall make a public announcement.

Where the party concerned failed to complete formalities for refund within one year from the date of the public announcement of the Customs, the Customs shall sell or cash the collateral or rights pursuant to the law and turn over the proceeds to the Treasury.

Article 22    Financial institutions and related organisations shall render assistance to performance of duties by the Customs pursuant to the law.

Article 23    Guarantors and guaranteed parties who violate the provisions of these Regulations in using fraudulent means or concealment of information in provision of guarantee shall be ordered by the Customs to continue to perform their legal obligations and be subject to a fine ranging from RMB5,000 to RMB50,000; where the case is serious, the guaranteed party shall be suspended from engaging in the relevant Customs transactions or deregistered from the relevant Customs transactions.

Article 24    Customs personnel who have committed any of the following acts shall be punished; where the case constitutes a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law:

(1) Disposal of collateral or rights illegally;

(2) Illegally handling the relevant formalities for applications which do not comply with guarantee provisions and compromise State interests as a result thereto;

(3) Refusal to handle the relevant formalities for applications which comply with guarantee provisions; or

(4) Any other illegal acts relating to Customs affairs guarantee.

Article 25    A guarantor or a guaranteed party who disagrees with a specific administrative act of a Customs office pertaining to Customs affairs guarantees may apply to the higher-level Customs office for administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit with a People's Court pursuant to the law.

Article 26    These Regulations shall come into force on 1 January 2011.