Notice of the Tianjin Municipal People's Government concerning the Implementation Plan for Reducing Port Fees, Improving Port Efficiency, and Optimizing Business Environment to Facilitate Cross-Border Trade 

Jin Zheng Fa [2019] No.2

The people's governments of all districts, all commissions and bureaus, and all units directly under the Municipal People's governments,

The Implementation Plan for Reducing Port Fees, Improve Port Efficiency, and Optimize Business Environment to Facilitate Cross-Border Trade is hereby issued for your implementation.

Tianjin Municipal People's Government

February 13, 2019

Implementation Plan for Reducing Port Fees, Improving Port Efficiency, and Optimizing Business Environment to Facilitate Cross-Border Trade 

The Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal People's Government have placed a high priority on reduction of fees and improvement on efficiency, deployed and launched a special action to reduce fees and improve efficiency at Tianjin Port. In addition, they have implemented a series of measures to reduce customs clearance time at ports, reduce compliance costs at container import and export links, and facilitate cross-border trade. Moreover, they have taken the lead in establishing a system of publishing port charge lists and clearly marking prices nationwide, pushed forward the comprehensive optimization and reform of port logistics and customs clearance processes, continuously improved the level of cross-border trade facilitation, and constantly optimized the business environment at ports. As a result, significant results have been achieved in reducing port fees and improving efficiency. This Implementation Plan is formulated in accordance with the Circular of the State Council concerning the Issuance of the Work Plan for Optimizing the Business Environment of Ports and Facilitating Cross-Border Trade and in combination of the Municipality's actualities, with a view to putting into practice of the guiding principles from General Secretary Xi Jinping's major speeches made on his visit to Tianjin and at the Symposium of Coordinated Development of the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei region, giving full play to the important role of Tianjin port in the coordinated development of the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei region, implementing better measures for facilitating cross-border trade, improving the service coverage in the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei region, north, northeast and northwest China, and countries along the Belt and Road, launching the efforts to reduce port charges, improve port efficiency, and optimize business environment, making greater efforts to reduce the comprehensive port charges to the national competitive level, improve the port operation efficiency to the domestic leading level, and construct the smart port in alignment with the international standard, realizing a leap-forward development of throughput of containers, and serving the construction of Tianjin with "Five Modernizations".

I. Work Objectives 

Subject to the unified deployment of the State and on the basis that the compliance cost for the import and export by container at Tianjin Port will be greatly reduced in 2018 and that the overall customs clearance time for import and export will be reduced by more than one third compared with 2017, the compliance cost for the import and export by container will be reduced by half compared with 2017, by the end of 2020; the overall customs clearance time will be reduced by half compared with 2017, by the end of 2021. Therefore, the port management system and capacity will be modernized initially, a good market order will be maintained, and a more dynamic, efficient, open and convenient port business environment will be formed.

II. Key Tasks 

The key tasks are to consolidate the results of the special action of reducing fees, improving efficiency, and optimizing the business environment at Tianjin Port, actively support the implementation of streamlining the administration and delegating power to lower authorities, multimodal transport, customs clearance, and international cooperation deployed by relevant state authorities at the national level, and align with the domestic and international state-of-the-art level based on the actualities of the Municipality, subject to the completion of the objects of reducing clearance duration and compliance cost for the import and export by container.

(I) Further Reducing and Regulating Port Charges 

1. Implementing Management System of Catalogue and List of Port Charges. The Tianjin Port Charges Work Team shall be jointly established by the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Transportation Commission, the Municipal Commerce Bureau (or the Municipal Port Office), the Tianjin Customs, and Tianjin Port Group to promote the work of port charges. As the Municipality has implemented the system of publicizing list of charges and clearly marking charges, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission applies dynamic management on the catalogue and list of charges of the industry and enterprises, together with competent industry department; the catalogue and list of charges shall be proposed by the competent industry department and released by the Municipal Port Charges Work Group and no charges outside the list may be made. It shall strengthen industry management and industry self-discipline, and guide port operation and service enterprises to operate in good faith and price reasonably. (In the charge of the Municipal Port Charges Work Group, the Municipal Market Supervision Commission, and the Management Committee of Airport Economic Area by their terms of references)

2. Reducing Compliance Costs in Import and Export. It shall strictly implement the administrative fees list management system; without the approval of the State Council, no new fees involving import and export may be charged. It shall regulate the port operation and service charges, and strictly implement the prescribed standards for the implementation of government pricing. It shall encourage competition, break monopoly, and promote the reduction of customs declaration, freight forwarders, shipping agents, vehicle transportation, warehousing, and other port services operating and service charges. It shall strengthen inspection, and investigate and punish all kinds of illegal charging behavior under the law. The Municipal Transportation Commission and the Municipal Development and Reform Commission are responsible for implementing the regulatory requirements of the Ministry of Transport and the National Development and Reform Commission for port charges. The Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Transportation Commission, the Municipal Commerce Bureau, the Tianjin Customs, the Management Committee of Airport Economic Area, and the Tianjin Port Group respectively cleaned up the import and export fees involved in the management units and enterprises, thus further reducing the compliance costs in the import and export process. (In the charge of the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Transportation Commission, the Municipal Commerce Bureau (the Municipal Port Office), the Tianjin Customs, the Tianjin Port Group, the Municipal Market Supervision Commission, and the Bonded Area [Airport Economic Area] Management Committee by their terms of references)

3. Developing Unified Toll Management Service Platform of Tianjin Port. It shall consolidate the results of the Tianjin Port's special action to reduce fees, improve efficiency, optimize the environment, reform and innovate the service mode of port charges management, build a unified fee management service platform for Tianjin Port, realize "one-stop service, one-time handling and integrated management" for port charges and settlement, and provide mechanism guarantee and platform support for creating new advantages in opening up. The Municipal Bureau of Commerce (Municipal Port Office) is responsible for platform development and construction, business and system training, and operation and management. Relevant competent industry departments shall promote the enterprises under their management to provide the required system interfaces and data information for the platform construction and operation, assist in promoting the registration and training of payment collection entities and application platforms, and strengthen industry management according to their respective responsibilities. The Municipal Bureau of Finance, the People's Government of Binhai New Area and Tianjin Port Group provide special funds for upgrading and operation and maintenance of the platform. (In the charge of the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office), the Municipal Development and Reform Commission, the Municipal Bureau of Finance, the Municipal Market Supervision Commission, the Municipal Transportation Commission, the Municipal Taxation Administration, the Tianjin Customs, the People's Government of Binhai New Area, the Management Committee of the Municipal Development Zones, the Management Committee of the Bonded Area (Airport Economic Area), the China-Singapore Tian Eco-City Administrative Committee, and Tianjin Port Group by their terms of reference)

(II) Improving the Intelligent Level of Port Management Information 

4. Deepening the construction of a "single window" for international trade. The "single window" for international trade will be extended to areas under special customs supervision and related areas such as the cross-border electronic commerce comprehensive experimental zone, connecting with the national cross-border e-commerce online comprehensive service platform. It shall strengthen cooperation and integration between the "single window" and banks, insurance, ports and other relevant industry institutions to jointly build a cross-border trade big data platform. It shall promote "one declaration for all" for international navigation ships, and realize paperless customs clearance procedures for entry and exit. By the end of 2020, the application rate of major businesses (cargo, manifest, declaration of means of transport) shall reach 100%. By the end of 2021, the "single window" function will cover the entire chain of international trade management and create a "one-stop" trade service platform, except for special circumstances such as security and confidentiality needs. (In the charge of the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office), the Tianjin Customs, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration, the Tianjin General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, Tianjin Port Group, and Binhai International Airport by their terms of references)

5. Promoting the computerization of port logistics information. The electronic exchange of shipping bills of lading for bill of lading shall be promoted according to the unified deployment of the relevant departments of the state. It shall comprehensively promote paperless international equipment interchange receipt, and realize paperless and electronic handling of cargo, warehousing and tallying, customs declaration, logistics and transportation, and expense settlement in port operation stations. The electronic customs supervision of domestic and foreign trade container yards according to the unified deployment of the relevant departments of the state. By the end of 2019, the electronic transfer of shipping bills of lading, bills of lading, packing lists and other information between customs and enterprises will be realized on major ocean routes. (In the charge of the Tianjin Customs, the Municipal Transportation Commission, Tianjin Port Group, and the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office) by their terms of references)

6. Improving the intelligence level of port inspection. The application of equipment such as empty container detector, high-definition underbody detection system and safe intelligent lock shall be strengthened, and individual equipment will be equipped according to the unified deployment of the General Administration of Customs. It shall expand the pilot of "early machine inspection" and "intelligent identification" operations to increase the proportion of machine inspection of containers. By the end of 2021, all large-scale container inspection equipment will be networked for centralized image examination. (In the charge of the Tianjin Customs and the Tianjin General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection by their terms of references)

(III) Improving the Efficiency of Port Customs Clearance and Port Logistics Services 

7. Implementing the integrated reform and deployment of customs clearance. It shall promote one-time joint customs, border inspection and maritime inspection. It shall deepen the integration of customs clearance in Tianjin customs area. It shall carry out the integration of customs and inspection comprehensive services, and centralize and intensively manage the document review, printing, filing and related comprehensive services. By integrating teams, merging posts, streamlining operation links, unifying on-site law enforcement, optimizing internal processes and other measures, a "one-stop" service mode has been formed to realize "unified declaration, unified operation and unified law enforcement" of import and export goods at customs clearance sites, thus effectively improving on-site service efficiency. (In the charge of the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office), the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration, the Tianjin Customs, and the Tianjin General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection by their terms of references)

8. Fully promoting "dual random and public disclosure" supervision. According to the unified arrangement of the General Administration of Customs, the general supervision of import and export goods will be extended to all law enforcement fields such as routine inspection, bonded inspection and bonded goods supervision. It shall promote full-chain supervision and improve the efficiency of "double random" supervision. (In the charge of Tianjin Customs)

9. Promoting and applying the model of "Early Declaration". It shall organize publicity and training, strengthen industry guidance, establish fault tolerance mechanism, strengthen enterprise credit rating management, encourage enterprises to apply "early declaration", go through document review and cargo transportation operations in advance, increase the proportion of "early declaration" of imported goods, and release non-controlled inspection goods upon arrival at the port. (In the charge of the Tianjin Customs and the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office) by their terms of references)

10. Improving the efficiency of inspection work. Tianjin Customs will promptly issue goods inspection instructions, carry out homeopathic inspection and image review, and implement a "daily conclusion" system for imported inspection goods that meet the conditions for release. Inspection sites will need to check the goods in place within the specified time to improve inspection efficiency. (In the charge of the Tianjin Customs and Tianjin Port Group by their terms of references)

11. Optimizing inspection and quarantine operations. Imported mineral products and other bulk resource commodities shall be subject to the inspection and supervision method of "releasing before inspection". It shall optimize inspection and quarantine methods and apply rapid detection technology to further shorten the inspection and quarantine period. (In the charge of Tianjin Customs)

12. Speeding up the customs clearance of fresh goods. Under the premise of controllable risks, it shall optimize the inspection and quarantine process of fresh and live products, and speed up customs clearance and release. (In the charge of Tianjin Customs)

13. Innovating the customs tax collection and management mode. According to the unified arrangement of the General Administration of Customs, it shall comprehensively innovate diversified tax guarantee methods, push forward the reform of tariff guarantee insurance, and explore the implementation of the guarantee reform of enterprise group finance companies and financing guarantee companies. It shall fully promote the horizontal networking of finance, customs, treasury, and banks and accelerate the paperless reform of tax receipts. (In the charge of Tianjin Customs)

14. Promoting the third-party admission system. It shall introduce a market competition mechanism, give full play to the role of social inspection and testing agencies, and promote the adoption system of third-party inspection and testing results in import and export links in accordance with the unified arrangements of the General Administration of Customs. (In the charge of Tianjin Customs)

15. Pushing forward the "double optimization" reform. According to the progress of container terminal integration planning and construction in Beijiang Port Area of Tianjin Port, the comprehensive optimization and reform of logistics process and customs clearance process will be promoted in Beijiang Port Area, and the customs clearance mode of "release upon arrival at port" for export goods will be implemented. (In the charge of the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office), Tianjin Port Group, and the Tianjin Customs by their terms of references)

16. Improving the efficiency of port operations. The average monthly time limit for lifting and dropping containers at container terminals is more than 60% within 30 minutes and more than 90% within 60 minutes (except for cold containers, frame containers, over-containers, and single-ticket multi-containers that need to be emptied after vehicles enter the site). The average time for vehicles to pass through gates is less than 2 minutes, and the average time for service windows is less than 10 minutes. (In the charge of Tianjin Port Group)

(IV) Creating an Open and Transparent Customs Clearance Environment 

17. Publicizing customs clearance process and logistics operation time limit. It shall formulate and publicize the procedures for customs clearance and the time limit standards for operations such as on-site transshipment, crane box shifting, box picking and box lifting by the cargo side for port operation and service enterprises, so as to facilitate enterprises to reasonably arrange production and formulate transportation plans. It shall announce the customs clearance service hotline of the port inspection unit, and unblock the feedback channels of opinions and complaints. It shall give full play to the role of the hotline of the customs (12360), the China (Tianjin) International Trade Single Window, and the Customer Service Center (25707070) of Tianjin Port Group to serve and deal with customs clearance problems of import and export enterprises. (In the charge of Tianjin Port Group, the Tianjin Customs, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration, the Tianjin General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, and the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office) by their terms of references)

18. Establishing a time limit evaluation mechanism for customs clearance. Customs, maritime, border inspection and other port inspection departments and the main operating units of Tianjin Port and Tianjin Binhai International Airport stations shall provide relevant data and information in real time. The Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office) shall strengthen the summary statistical analysis of the overall customs clearance time, informs the overall customs clearance time of import and export goods, organizes the third-party evaluation of the overall customs clearance time at ports, reports the relevant work to the municipal government, and releases it to the public in an appropriate form. The Tianjin Customs shall actively secure the data support of the General Administration of Customs, and circulate the reduction of customs clearance time at various sites, the efficiency of customs clearance of import "early declaration", the efficiency of customs clearance of import and export goods by major customs clearance agents at Tianjin Port, and the list of relevant customs clearance agents. Tianjin Port Group and Tianjin Binhai International Airport shall circulate the information about operation efficiency of international trade logistics in major goods. (In the charge of the Municipal Commerce Bureau (Municipal Port Office), the Tianjin Customs, the Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration, the Tianjin General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection, the People’s Government of Binhai New Area, the Municipal Administrative Committee of Development Zones, the Management Committee of Bonded Area (Airport Economic Area), the Management Committee of Dongjiang Bonded Area, the China-Singapore Tian Eco-City Administrative Committee, Tianjin Port Group, and Binhai International Airport by their terms of reference)

III. Organization and Implementation 

(I) Strengthening Organization and Leadership. All departments and units shall improve their political stance, regard the implementation of port fee reduction and efficiency improvement as a major political task, and establish a strong leadership system and working mechanism in which the main leaders are in charge and the leaders in charge are specifically responsible. According to the requirements of the division of tasks, the work breakdown structure shall be refined, the work plan shall be formulated, the work ledger shall be established, the timetable, road map and responsible persons shall be clearly defined, the work responsibility system shall be strictly implemented, and objectives, measures and results shall be achieved.

(II) Strengthening Cooperation and Coordination. For the work involving cross-field and multi-department participation, each department shall effectively play its role according to the division of responsibilities, actively communicate, closely cooperate, jointly promote, reasonably arrange the progress, earnestly perform their duties and fulfill their duties, and improve the pertinence and effectiveness of the work. It shall feed back the progress of the work in a timely manner and ensure publicity.

(III) Strengthening Supervision and Implementation. The Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Municipal Bureau of Commerce (Municipal Port Office) shall, according to their work tasks, intensify their efforts in collecting and supervising the work, and implement work responsibilities. All departments and units shall step up their efforts to push forward, do a good job in all kinds of work in the spirit of nailing down nails, and hold units and personnel who have set up obstacles and failed to implement them seriously accountable to ensure the realization of their tasks and objectives.