Promulgation Authorities:  General Administration of Customs

Promulgation Date:  2010.11.26

Effective Date:  2010.11.26

Validity Status:  valid

Provisional Regulations on Handling of Appeal Cases by the Customs of the People's Republic of China （Amended in 2010）

Provisional Regulations on Handling of Appeal Cases by the Customs of the People's Republic of China （Amended in 2010）

Article 1.   

These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China , the Law of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Penalties and other related laws and administrative regulations for the purposes of standardising Customs handling of appeal cases, protecting the legal rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations and supervising proper exercise of duties and powers by the Customs.

Article 2.   

Citizens, legal persons or other organizations who/which disagree with a specific administrative act of the Customs but fail to apply for administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit within the statutory period or who/which disagree with an administrative review decision but fail to file an administrative lawsuit within the statutory period may file an appeal with the Customs.

These Regulations shall apply to filing of appeal cases by appellants and acceptance of appeal cases and decisions by the Customs.

Article 3.   

The Customs shall comply with the principles of lawfulness, justice, transparency, promptness and convenience for the people when handling appeal cases and shall insist upon practicality and correction of all mistakes.

Article 4.   

Appellants may file an appeal case to the Customs which committed the specific administrative act or made the review decision or to the next higher level Customs.

Appellants who disagree with a specific administrative act or review decision of the General Administration of Customs shall file an appeal case with the General Administration of Customs.

Article 5.   

Appeal cases in respect of a specific administrative act of the anti-smuggling department of a Customs shall be handled by the anti-smuggling department; appeal cases in respect of specific administrative acts and review decisions of a Customs shall be handled by the legal department of the Customs.

The aforesaid departments responsible for handling appeal cases shall be referred to hereinafter as the examination department.

Article 6.   

The General Administration of Customs may, where it deems necessary, delegate an appeal case in respect of a specific administrative act or review decision made by a direct-subordinate Customs within Guangdong Province to the Guangdong branch of the General Administration of Customs for handling.

Article 7.   

Correspondence or complaints involving the legitimacy of a specific administrative act or administrative review decision of a Customs which satisfy the appeal criteria stipulated in Article 8 received by the relevant Customs department shall be forwarded to the examination department as appeal cases for handling.

Article 8.   

Appellants shall submit a written appeal stating the basic information of the appellant, specific request for revocation or change of the specific administrative act, detailed facts and reason.

Article 9.   

Upon receipt of a written appeal, the examination department shall conduct examination within 5 working days and take the following actions:

(1) appeals which comply with the provisions of these Regulations shall be accepted and a "Decision on Acceptance of Appeal" shall be issued;

(2) appeals which do not comply with the provisions of these Regulations and fall under any of the following circumstances shall not be accepted and the appellant shall be informed in writing of the reason for non-acceptance:

1. the specific administrative act or review decision is not made by the Customs;

2. the appeal matter is accepted and being examined and handled by a people's court or an administrative review authority;

3. a people's court has passed a judgment on the appeal matter;

4. the appeal matter is accepted and being handled by another Customs;

5. the appeal matter has been dealt with in accordance with the Customs appeal procedures and the appellant is making a repeated filing;

6. the appeal matter is a disagreement with administrative regulations and policies formulated and promulgated by the Customs or regulations or decisions which are generally binding;

7. the appeal matter has passed the time limit stipulated by laws and regulations; and/or

8. where the laws provide that the appeal shall not be accepted;

(3) where an specific administrative act falls within the time limit for administrative review or administrative lawsuit or where an administrative review decision falls within the time limit for administrative lawsuit, the appellant shall be notified of its rights to apply for an administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit with a people's court;

(4) where an appeal which complies with the provisions of these Regulations is required to be forwarded to other Customs for handling, the appeal documents shall be forwarded to the relevant Customs and the appellant shall be notified in writing; the Customs which accepts the forwarded appeal shall handle the case in accordance with the provisions of these Regulations.

Article 10.   

The date of receipt of a written appeal by the examination department shall be the date of acceptance of an accepted appeal case.

Article 11.   

Where any of the circumstances stated in Article 9(2) of these Regulations is discovered after acceptance of an appeal case and prior to a decision being made, the appeal case shall be revoked and the appellant shall be informed in writing.

Article 12.   

The examination department shall examine the lawfulness of the specific administrative act or administrative review decision.

Examination of appeal cases shall in principle be conducted in writing. Upon request by the appellant or where the examination department deems necessary, the relevant organisation and personnel may be interviewed and the opinion of the appellant and interested third parties of the appeal case shall be heard; the opinion of the Customs which committed the specific administrative act or made the review decision shall be heard;

Hearings may be conducted for interviewing or hearing of opinion.

Article 13.   

Where the examination department needs to seek clarification with the Customs which committed the specific administrative act or made the review decision or the authorities which handle the case previously, it may forward copies of the appeal documents to such Customs or authorities within 7 working days from the date of acceptance of the appeal; the Customs or authorities shall give a written explanation of the relevant facts within 10 days from receipt of the copies of appeal documents and provide the relevant evidence which supports the specific administrative act or review decision.

Article 14.   

Officers who handled the specific administrative act or review decision shall not act as examiners for the appeal case.

Where the appellant is of the opinion that the officer(s) handling the appeal case is an interested party in the appeal case or may not be able to handle the appeal justly due to some other relationship, the appellant shall have the right to request that such officer(s) be withdrawn from handling the case. Any officer who feels that he/she is an interested party in the appeal case or has some other relationship thereto shall apply to be withdrawn from handling the case.

The withdrawal of an officer shall be decided by the person-in-charge of the examination department; the withdrawal of a person-in-charge of the examination department shall be decided by the Customs director whom he/she reports to.

Article 15.   

The appellant may withdraw an appeal application before the decision on the appeal case is made; an application to withdraw an appeal application shall be made in writing.

Examination of an appeal case shall terminate upon withdrawal of the appeal application by the appellant.

Article 16.   

The Customs shall make a decision within 60 days from acceptance of an appeal case; where the case is complex and upon approval by the person-in-charge of the examination department, an extension of not more than 30 days may be granted.

The appellant shall be informed in writing of an extension in examination period.

Article 17.   

The Customs shall make a decision on an appeal case in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) where the facts of the specific administrative act or the review decision are clear, supported by adequate evidence, the underlying rationale and procedures are correct and legitimate and the contents are appropriate, the original decision shall be upheld and the appeal shall be rejected;

(2) where the Customs has failed to perform statutory duties, the Customs or a subordinate Customs shall be ordered to perform the duties within a stipulated period;

(3) where the specific administrative act is in any of the following circumstances, the specific administrative act shall be revoked, altered or confirmed as illegal; where a new specific administrative act is required, it shall be made by the Customs which has committed the specific administrative act:

1. the principal facts are unclear and lack evidence;

2. the underlying rationale is wrong;

3. statutory procedures are violated, which may affect fair handling;

4. the official powers have been exceeded or abused; or

5. the specific administrative act is evidently inappropriate.

(4) Where the original review decision is in any of the circumstances set out in item (3) above, it shall be revoked and the original review authorities shall make a new review decision.

Article 18.   

The examination department shall issue an opinion on handling an appeal and upon approval of the Customs director whom it reports to, make a decision in accordance with the provisions of Article 17. Major and complex cases shall be discussed and approved by the appeal examination committee.

Lower level Customs shall issue an opinion on handling an appeal in respect of a specific administrative act or review decision made by a higher level Customs and submit the opinion to the higher level Customs which has conducted examination and approval previously for approval and decision making.

Article 19.   

Decisions on appeal cases shall be issued in the form of a legal document affixed with the administrative seal of the Customs and delivered to the appellant within 7 working days.

In the event of appeal cases handled by a higher level Customs in respect of a specific administrative act or review decision by a lower level Customs, the decision shall be delivered simultaneously to the lower level Customs.

Article 20.   

In the event of appeal cases forwarded by another internal department of a Customs, a copy of the decision shall be delivered to such department.

In the event of appeal cases forwarded by other authorities, a copy of the decision shall be delivered to such authorities.

Article 21.   

Appellants who disagree with the specific administrative act revised in accordance with the appeal procedures or the new specific administrative act made after the appeal procedures may apply for an administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit.

Article 22.   

The Customs shall not collect any fees from appellants for handling of appeal cases.

Article 23.   

Appeal cases shall be closed and archived upon completion of examination.

Article 24.   

The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for interpretation of these Regulations.

Article 25.   

These Regulations shall be effective 1 January 2005.