No. 7 Joint Announcement of Beijing and Tianjin

To implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on improving the business environment, and promote the implementation of the Regulations on Improving the Business Environment, the seventh batch of specific reform measures to promote cross-border trade facilitation at Beijing ports and Tianjin ports are hereby launched in line with international standards and the actual situation. The Announcement runs as follows:

I. Deepen the reform of customs declaration and supervision

1. Expand the coverage of export declaration in advance. After the goods are fully prepared, the containers are packed, and the electronic data of the premanifest is obtained, the enterprise may go through declaration formalities with the customs within 3 days before the goods arrive at the operation place under customs supervision; after the goods arrive at the place under customs supervision, the customs will inspect and release goods.

2. Further improve "direct loading and unloading of exported goods". Pilot the mode of "declaration in advance + direct loading and unloading upon arrival + commodity channel inspection" for export container goods at Tianjin Port, that's, to combine supervision and inspection with port logistics operation, and complete inspection after the goods under inspection arrive at the port.

3. Further promote paperless supervision documents for handling port formalities. Expand the types of supervision documents that can be obtained online through International Trade Single Window. Pursuant to the uniform deployment of the General Administration of Customs, carry out the electronic reform of inspection and quarantine documents, and promote the implementation of electronic inspection and quarantine certificates to allow enterprises to access and print relevant certificate information.

4. Pilot the "flexible inspection" mode. On the basis of centralized inspection, adopt a combination of inspection methods such as appointment inspection, delayed inspection, factory inspection, and warehouse inspection for inbound and outbound goods with special transportation requirements according to the characteristics of goods and reasonable demands of the enterprise, so as to reduce the time for handling goods and the enterprises' time for waiting for inspection, and improve the timeliness of supervision and inspection.

5. Assist customs inspection without appearing in person. During the period of COVID-19 prevention and control, the consignee and consigner may choose not to visit the customs to assist in inspection after receiving the goods inspection notice from the customs. Instead, they can entrust the operator of the place under customs supervision where the goods are stored, the person in charge of the means of transport and other relevant personnel to assist in the inspection onsite, or they can inform the customs by e-mail that they can't be present, in which case the customs will carry out inspection when the consignee and consignor are not present, so as to promote rapid inspection and release of the inbound and outbound goods.

6. Publish the overall clearance time for enterprises. Publish the overall customs clearance time of the top 100 enterprises in terms of imported customs declaration business volume on a quarterly basis on the Single Window of customs, commerce and international trade, and the website of Customs Brokers Association, in a bid to encourage enterprises to declare in advance and shorten the customs clearance logistics time at ports.

II. Further optimize the "Three Sunshine Services" environment of the port

7. Optimize and improve the efficiency of sunshine services. Tianjin Port has taken multiple measures including operational efficiency assessment, service efficiency commitment, and inspections in the quayside, and announced and promoted "sunshine price + sunshine service + sunshine efficiency" to further enhance the expectations of enterprises.

8. Refine and publish the time limit standard 2.0 for operation at the port. Optimize and improve the operation time limit standard, focus on reducing the operation time limit, and introduce new operation time limit standard items to further streamline operation procedures.

9. Continue to regulate charging behaviors in fumigation, disinfection and other quarantine processing links. Guide port operating service units to further reduce related service charges and improve service levels through market guidance, price supervision and inspection, industry standards and other means.

III. Realize electronic port logistics and operations in an accelerated way.

10. Promote the pilot of electronic container release. Connect the electronic container management systems of various shipping companies through the electronic platform of container equipment interchange receipts at Tianjin Port, simplify the procedures for container release, pilot the electronic container release and provide 7X24h container release services.

11. Further promote paperless operations at the port. Actively develop and test the electronic platform of imported container bills of lading, improve functions and services, launch the paperless function of bills of lading at Tianjin Port, better exert the role of system interconnection, data exchange and information sharing, and deliver better use experience to customers.

IV. Give full play to the multi-platform aggregation effect of the "single window".

12. Promote the application of the "Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Customs Facilitation" block chain scenario, and facilitate the data sharing of customs clearance and port logistics of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei on the blockchain. Use blockchain technology to inquire the efficiency of customs clearance, logistics and other operations, optimize the operation process and improve the operational efficiency.

13. Improve the functions of the "automatic auxiliary declaration system for auto parts" in the International Trade Single Window, and simplify customs declaration operations for auto parts. The declaration enterprise only needs to input the parts No. to automatically fill in all the declaration elements, thus realizing the "menu" declaration.

14. Connect the International Trade Single Window of Beijing with the unified charge management and service platform of Tianjin port so that the enterprises in Beijing can apply for refunding the local retention of Tianjin port construction dues offsite through the International Trade Single Window of Beijing, and the "one-stop service, one-time handling and integrated management" in terms of payment and settlement of Tianjin Port can be completed.

15. Promote the construction of a smart port assembly & evacuation platform at Tianjin Port, and the docking between  Beijing's freight enterprises, their vehicles and the smart port assembly & evacuation platform at Tianjin Port, so as to improve the matching efficiency of port freight resources, speed up the distribution of goods in the port area, and reduce the stay time of goods at the port.

V. Establish a public supervision and evaluation mechanism

16. Publish the port's customer service hotline for "responding to and handling lawsuits without delay". Publish the port 's unified customer service hotline on the basis of the existing reservation mechanism for goods entry and exit, and solve the problems encountered in the entire circulation process of import and export goods in the port area, gates, yards, etc., so as to achieve smooth flow of goods in the port area.

17. Establish the social supervisor system. Invite people who are familiar with import and export policies, handle import and export business, and engage in cross-border trade research as social supervisors, responsible for supervising all the links and personnel involved in the whole import and export process, collecting and discovering problems and putting forward rational suggestions, and optimize port operations, so as to play a constructive role in improving the business environment at ports.

18. Establish a public comment mechanism for customs clearance. Open a special window in the International Trade Single Window of Beijing, set up a Feature entitled "My Comments about Cross-border Trade", distribute questionnaires to attract public participation, collect problems in port operation supervision reflected by the public, put forward suggestions for improvement and evaluate the port supervision and operation service units.

Beijing Municipal Commerce Bureau (Port Office of the People' s Government of Beijing Municipality)
Tianjin Commission of Commerce (Port Office of the People' s Government of Tianjin Municipality)
Beijing Customs District People' s Republic of China  
Tianjin Customs District People' s Republic of China
April 3, 2020