Promulgation Authorities:  General Administration of Customs

Promulgation Date:  2018.05.29

Effective Date:  2018.07.01

Validity Status:  valid

Measures on Reinspection of Imports and Exports

Measures on Reinspection of Imports and Exports

Chapter 1 General Principles

Article 1    These Measures are formulated pursuant to the provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Inspection of Import and Export Commodities and its implementation regulations for the purposes of strengthening inspection of import and export commodities, regulating reinspection of import and export commodities, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of the relevant parties in external trade.

Article 2    Applicants applying for inspection of import and export commodities (hereinafter referred to as the "Applicant(s)") who disagree with the inspection finding of the Customs may apply for a reinspection in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 3    The General Administration of Customs shall carry out administration of reinspection of import and export commodities nationwide; the Customs which accept an application shall be responsible for organising and implementing reinspection of import and export commodities.

Article 4    Reinspection shall be conducted in accordance with the principles of fairness, transparency and equitableness.

Chapter 2 Application and Acceptance

Article 5    Applicants who disagree with the inspection finding of the competent Customs may apply to the competent Customs which have issued the inspection findings or to its higher-level Customs for a reinspection, or may apply to the General Administration of Customs for a reinspection.

An applicant shall only apply for reinspection once with the same Customs for the same inspection findings.

Article 6    Applicants applying for a reinspection shall submit the application within 15 days from receipt of the inspection finding of the Customs.

Where an applicant is unable to apply for a reinspection due to a force majeure event or other legitimate reason, the application period shall be suspended. The application period shall resume from the day of elimination of the reason for suspension.

Article 7    Applicants applying for reinspection shall ensure the quality, weight and quantity of the commodities submitted for reinspection are the same as those of the commodities submitted for the original inspection, and retain the packaging, sealing and labels.

Article 8    Applicants applying for reinspection shall fill in an application form for reinspection truthfully pursuant to the provisions.

Article 9    The Customs shall conduct examination of an application for reinspection within 15 days from receipt of the application and handle the application in the following manner:

(1) where an application for reinspection complies with the provisions of these Measures, it shall accept the application, and issue a "Notice of Acceptance of Application for Reinspection" to the applicant;

(2) where an application for reinspection is incomplete in contents or supporting certificates, documents and materials, it shall issue a "Notice of Supplementation of Application Documents for Reinspection" to the applicant, requesting the latter to make the supplementation within the stipulated deadline. If the supplementation is not made within the time limit, the application shall be deemed cancelled;

(3) where an application for reinspection does not comply with the provisions of these Measures, it shall not accept the application, and shall issue a "Notice of Non-acceptance of Application for Reinspection" and notify the applicant in writing of the reason for non-acceptance.

Article 10    Applicants for reinspection shall pay the reinspection fee in accordance with the provisions.

Where the reinspection finding concludes that the original Customs shall bear the liability, the reinspection fee shall be borne by the original Customs.

Chapter 3 Organisation and Implementation

Article 11    Upon acceptance of an application for reinspection by the Customs, a reinspection team shall be formed within five days and the applicant shall be notified of the name list of the team members.

A reinspection team shall comprise three or five members.

Article 12    Where an applicant for reinspection is of the opinion that a reinspection team member has an interest in the reinspection task or may affect the fairness of reinspection due to other reason, he may apply to the Customs which have accepted the application for reinspection, within three days from receipt of the name list of the reinspection team, to withdraw such member from the team and provide the corresponding evidence.

The Customs which have accepted the application for reinspection shall decide on whether or not to withdraw the member from the team, within three days from receipt of the application for withdrawal.

Article 13    The Customs which issue the original inspection findings shall provide the original inspection records and other relevant materials to the reinspection team.

The applicant for reinspection shall be obligated to cooperate in the reinspection carried out by the reinspection team.

Article 14    The reinspection team shall formulate a reinspection plan and organise and implement thereof:

(1) examine the application form for reinspection and the relevant certificates, documents and materials submitted by the applicant. Upon examination, where the application does not satisfy the implementing conditions for reinspection, it may notify the applicant in writing of the suspension of reinspection and set out the reason. Upon the applicant's fulfilling of the implementing conditions for reinspection, the reinspection shall be resumed on the date when the conditions are fulfilled;

(2) examine the criteria and methods on which the original inspection is based, to determine if they are correct and comply with the relevant provisions;

(3) verify the batch numbers, labels, serial numbers, quality, weight, quantity, packaging and external appearance of the commodities, and take samples based on the reinspection plan;

(4) conduct inspection in accordance with the operating procedures; and

(5) examine, verify and issue a reinspection finding, and assess the original inspection finding.

Article 15    The Customs which have accepted an application for reinspection shall issue a reinspection conclusion within 60 days from the date of acceptance of the application. Where the reinspection conclusion cannot be issued within the stipulate deadline due to technical complexity, the deadline may be extended appropriately upon approval of the person-in-charge of the authorities, but such extension shall not exceed 30 days.

Article 16    Applicants for reinspection who disagree with the reinspection conclusion may apply for administrative review in accordance with the provisions of the law or file an administrative lawsuit in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article 17    Samples taken in the reinspection process shall be handled properly in accordance with the relevant provisions on inspection samples.

Article 18    Customs personnel shall comply with the provisions of State laws and regulations strictly, and handle reinspection tasks in accordance with the provisions of these Measures.

Chapter 4 Supplementary Provisions

Article 19   Consignees of import commodities or consignors of export commodities who disagree with the inspection finding of the Customs may be handled with reference to the relevant provisions of these Measures.

Article 20    The documents stipulated in these Measures shall be separately formulated and promulgated by the General Administration of Customs.

Article 21    The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.

Article 22    These Measures shall be effective 1 October 2005, and the Measures on Reinspection of Imports and Exports promulgated by the former State Administration for Inspection of Imports and Exports on 1 June 1993 shall be repealed simultaneously.