Promulgation Authorities:  General Administration of Customs

Promulgation Date:  2018.05.29

Effective Date:  2018.07.01

Validity Status:  valid

Measures on Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports

Measures on Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports

Chapter 1 General Principles

Article 1   These Measures are formulated in accordance with relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Inspection for Imports and Exports and its Implementation Regulations to ensure the quality of imports and exports, encourage import and export of high quality commodities, and promote economic development and foreign trade.

Article 2   For imports and exports listed in the Catalogue of Imports and Exports subject to inspection (except for commodities stipulated in Article 6 of these Measures), the consignee, consignor or manufacturer thereof (hereinafter referred to as the "Applicant") shall submit the application, and may be exempted from inspection (hereinafter referred to as "exemption of inspection") upon approval by the General Administration of Customs.

Article 3    The General Administration of Customs shall uniformly manage the exemption of inspection for imports and exports nationwide, and shall be responsible for assessment, examination and approval, supervision and administration of manufacturers applying for exemption of inspection.

The competent Customs shall be responsible for preliminary assessment, supervision and administration of local manufacturers applying for exemption of inspection within its jurisdiction.

Article 4    Applications for exemption of inspection for imports and exports, as well as examination, approval, supervision and administration thereof, shall comply with the provisions of these Measures.

Chapter 2 Application for Exemption of Inspection

Article 5    Applications for exemption of inspection for imports and exports shall satisfy the following criteria:

(1) the quality of imports and exports which apply for exemption of inspection shall be consistent over a long period of time, be reputable for quality in the international markets, have nil records in quality disputes, compensation and return of goods attributable to manufacturing fault, and have achieved full passing rate in quarantine inspection consecutively for 3 years;

(2) the commodities of the Applicant which apply for exemption of inspection shall have their own brand names, and be in a leading position in terms of product grading and product quality in the same industry in relevant countries and regions;

(3) for imports or exports which apply for exemption of inspection, the quality management system of the manufacturer shall attain IS09000 quality management standards, or meet the management system standard requirements corresponding to the characteristics of goods applying for exemption, and obtain the certification of the authority certification body;

(4) in order to meet the needs of work and ensure the quality of products, the manufacturer of import and export commodities that apply for exemption of inspection should have certain testing capabilities; and

(5) the manufacturer of imports or exports which apply for exemption of inspection shall satisfy the Examination Criteria for Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports.

Article 6   Applications for exemption of inspection shall not be accepted for the following imports and exports:

(1) food, animals, plants and their derivatives;

(2) dangerous articles and packaging;

(3) commodities with wide fluctuations in quality or bulk cargo; and

(4) commodities which require the issuance of an inspection and quarantine certificate, or commodities which are priced and settled according to the weight, quantity and quality indicated on the inspection and quarantine certificate.

Article 7    Applicants shall apply for exemption of inspection in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) For exemption of inspection of imports, the Applicant shall submit application to the General Administration of Customs. For exemption of inspection for exports, the Applicant shall first submit the application to the local direct-reporting Customs, and may submit a formal application to the General Administration of Customs only after passing the preliminary examination by the local direct-reporting Customs in accordance with relevant provisions of these Measures.

(2) The Applicant shall complete and submit the Application Form for Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports, together with supporting documentation including the ISO9000 Certificate of the manufacturer of imports and exports which apply for exemption of inspection, or management system certification, quality standards, user opinions and other documents which correspond to the characteristics of the products applied for exemption of inspection.

Article 8    The General Administration of Customs shall examine documents submitted by the Applicant, and issue the following written reply within 1 month:

(1) Documents submitted by the Applicant which comply with the provisions of these Measures shall be accepted for processing; documents which do not comply with the provisions shall be rejected and the Applicant shall be notified in writing.

(2) Where the application is incomplete, the Applicant shall be notified of the requirement to submit supplementary documentation by a stipulated deadline. Where the Applicant fails to submit the required documentation by the deadline, the application shall be deemed withdrawn.

Chapter 3 Examination of Exemption of Inspection

Article 9    After the General Administration of Customs accepts an application, it shall establish an expert examination panel (hereinafter referred to as the "Examination Panel") which complete assessment and examination within 3 months.

The Examination Panel shall comprise Customs officers not from the local competent Customs office where the Applicant is located; the team leader shall organise the examination work. Inspecting officers shall be familiar with inspection technology and administrative matters relevant to the commodities applied for exemption of inspection.

Article 10    The Applicant who is of the opinion that a member of the Examination Panel has a personal stake in the examination that he is participating in and may potentially affect the fairness of the examination may request that such panel member withdraw from participation. The General Administration of Customs shall decide on the withdrawal of such panel member.

Article 11    The Examination Panel shall carry out its tasks in accordance with the following procedures:

(1) examine the Application Form for Exemption of Inspection and other documents submitted by the Applicant;

(2) examine the Preliminary Examination Form and Report issued by the Customs;

(3) research and formulate detailed examination exemption plan, and announce the examination plan to the Applicant;

(4) inspect and test the commodities which apply for exemption of inspection, and produce an inspection and testing report;

(5) assess the manufacturer in accordance with the examination exemption plan and the Examination Criteria for Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports; and

(6) submit the examination report to the General Administration of Customs based on onsite assessment, clarify whether or not to exempt the inspection, and simultaneously complete the "Examination Report for Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports".

Article 12    The General Administration of Customs shall handle the application for exemption of inspection submitted by the Applicant in the follow ways, based on the examination report submitted by the Examination Panel.

The General Administration of Customs shall approve applications which comply with the provisions of these Measures, and issue the "Certificate of Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports" (hereinafter referred to as the "Exemption Certificate") to the Applicant.

For those who do not comply with the provisions of these Measures, the General Administration of Customs shall not approve the exemption of these goods, and notify the Applicant in writing.

Article 13    Applicants whose imports and exports are not exempted from inspection may apply to the Customs for exemption only one year after receiving the written notice.

Article 14    The Review Panel shall keep confidential the production technology, production process, inspection results and examination results of Applicants.

Article 15    The Customs shall conduct inspection and quarantine for inspection-exempted imports and exports which require an inspection and quarantine certificate to be issued.

Chapter 4 Supervision and Administration

Article 16    Exemption Certificates shall be valid for 3 years. Exempted enterprises requesting for an extension upon expiry shall apply to the General Administration of Customs for an extension 3 months prior to expiry of the Exemption Certificate; upon passing the re-examination by the General Administration of Customs, the Exemption Certificate shall be reissued.

The re-examination shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 3 of these Measures.

Article 17    Exempted enterprises shall not alter the scope of inspection-exempted products; if altered, an application for exemption of inspection shall be submitted anew.

Article 18    Exempted enterprises may present the foreign trade contract, quality warranty of such commodities and certification for packaging etc to complete clearance formalities with the Customs for inspection-exempted imports and exports.

Article 19    Exempted enterprises shall submit a report to the Customs  on the status of inspection-exempted imports and exports in the preceding year by end January each year; the report shall include information on status of imports and exports in the preceding year, product quality, quality assurance etc.

Article 20    The Customs shall be responsible for daily supervision and administration of inspection-exempted imports and exports in their jurisdiction.

Article 21    Where the Customs, in its supervision and administration work, finds that the quality management work of an exempted enterprise or its product quality does not meet the requirements for exemption from inspection, it shall order the exempted enterprise to rectify during a rectification period of 3 to 6 months.

Exemption of inspection for imports and exports of exempted enterprises shall be suspended during the rectification period.

Article 22    Exempted enterprises which have completed rectification during rectification period shall submit a rectification report to the directly-reporting Customs, and only upon examination and approval of the report by the General Administration of Customs, exemption of inspection may be restored.

Article 23   Where an exempted enterprise is found guilty by the directly-reporting Customs in any of the following circumstances during its supervision and administration work, the Customs may make a decision to deregister the exempted enterprise upon approval from the General Administration of Customs:

(1) non-compliance with the provisions of Article 5 of these Measures;

(2) non-compliance with the requirements upon correction made within the stipulated deadline;

(3) fraudulent practices and passing off non-exempted imports or exports as inspection-exempted items; or

(4) other violation of the provisions of laws and regulations governing inspection and quarantine.

Article 24    Exempted enterprises which have been deregistered shall not enjoy exemption of inspection for imports and exports with effect from the date of receipt of the deregistration notice, and may re-apply for exemption of inspection upon the lapse of 3 years.

Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions

Article 25    The Customs shall not collect inspection fees on inspection-exempted imports and exports during the period of exemption.

Where import and export commodities exempted from inspection require issuance of an inspection and quarantine certificate, visa or require supervision and spot checks, the customs shall implement so and collect fees according to the regulations.

Article 26    Applicants or exempted enterprises guilty of violating the provisions of these Measures or committing fraudulent practices and deception shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations.

Article 27    Customs officers who violate the provisions of these Measures and commit abuse of official power, dereliction of duties or corruption or malpractice in the course of carrying out examination, review, approval or routine duties shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and regulations.

Article 28    The documents stipulated in these Measures shall be separately formulated and promulgated by the General Administration of Customs.

Article 29    The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.

Article 30    These Measures shall be implemented with effect from 1 October 2002. The Examination Criteria for Manufacturers of Inspection-exempted Commodities (Trial Implementation) promulgated by the SAQIQ on 6 September 1991 and the Measures for Exemption of Inspection for Imports and Exports promulgated on 1 August 1994 shall be repealed simultaneously.