The following measures are formulated to further optimize the business environment and facilitate cross-border trade at Beijing ports.
I. Continuously promote the simplification of documents and increase the speed of approval and filing procedures
1. Consolidate and enhance the effect of the reform of reducing the documents attached to customs declaration forms.
Beijing shall continue to implement measures to reduce the documents attached to customs declaration forms. Enterprises shall not be required to submit contracts and packing lists for import declarations, or commercial documents such as contracts, invoices, and packing lists for export declarations.
2. Further enhance the speed of import quarantine review and approval.
Beijing shall fully implement paperless quarantine approvals for import (transit) animals, plants and their products. In principle, the confirmation of regulation-compliant approval applications shall be completed by the customs offices directly under the General Administration of Customs within three working days. Fresh products such as meat, chilled aquatic products, pasteurized milk shall be prioritized for approval.
3. Significantly shorten the processing time for imported coatings.
Beijing shall shorten the processing schedule of the Notice on Acceptance of Import Coatings Filing Application to four working days and that of the "Imported Coatings Filing Form" or written notice to the applicant for filing to two working days.
4. Expand the scope of paperless customs clearance.
Beijing shall further promote the adoption of the electronic version of the "Inbound Goods Inspection and Quarantine Certificate". Enterprises choosing to apply for the "Inbound Goods Inspection and Quarantine Certificate" at the time of import customs clearance may check electronic information pertaining to the certificate online.
II. Continue to promote customs clearance reform and improve customs clearance efficiency
5. Deepen reform of the Two-Step Declaration model.
Beijing shall support and encourage enterprises in adopting the Two-Step Declaration and the Advance Declaration and Two-Step Declaration for customs clearance, and take full advantage of the combined Advance Declaration, Two-Step Declaration, and Aggregated Taxation policies.[质检-何沛玲1]
6. Promote reform of the Two-Phase Access regulatory model.
Beijing Customs District shall seek to fully implement reform of the Two-Phase Access (entry inspection and marketing inspection) regulatory model for imports. For eligible goods, enterprises can apply for transit inspection, as well as combined inspection for conditional pick-up of goods and port destinations.
7. Improve the mode of customs inspection operations.
Beijing shall continue to implement measures to exempt consignees and consignors from on-site inspection during the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic and to apply flexible inspection. For goods with special transport requirements, Beijing shall seek to adopt a variety of flexible inspection methods, such as inspection by appointment, inspection via factory visits, and incoming inspection, thus minimizing cargo handling time and inspection waiting time for enterprises.
8. Optimize the supervision of food and cosmetic sample inspection.
Imported food and cosmetics samples or those used for record registration, R&D, testing, and trade display among other things, except for quarantine requirements, may be exempted from affixing Chinese labels, sampling testing, and providing hygiene evaluation documents. Samples for record registration, R&D, and testing purposes shall be exempted from providing an imported dietary supplement approval certificate, record-keeping certificate for imported non-special-use cosmetics, or administrative license approval documents for imported special-purpose cosmetics.
9. Advance innovation in the regulation of health inspection and quarantine of special articles.
Beijing shall leverage the Zhongguancun Inspection and Quarantine Pilot Zone to implement intelligent review and approval of low-risk special articles. The special article supervision system shall automatically complete review and approval after checking product information. Beijing shall innovate a risk assessment model for high-risk samples to be used in scientific research. Beijing shall adopt a rapid risk assessment model for the import of urgently needed, small-volume samples for scientific research and simplify the requirements for risk assessment documents for non-commercialized samples or laboratory exchange samples.
10. Improve tariff technical services.
Beijing shall fully implement predetermination of classification, price, and place of origin and guide enterprises to declare legally and compliantly. Beijing shall also create a tax-related pre-review system and explore a "no penalty for the first violation due to tariff technical reasons" mechanism to fully protect the rights and interests of law-abiding enterprises.
11. Promote the application of the "third-party acceptance" system during customs clearance.
For imported automotive parts, batteries, and so forth, which need to be sampled and sent to the laboratory for testing, the need for laboratory testing can be further reduced by quick inspection and fast release based on third-party certification, test reporting, or enterprise quality and safety self-declaration. Beijing shall continue to implement the "declaration before verification" for imported automotive parts exempted from compulsory product certification.
12. Guide enterprises to proactively disclose violations.
When an enterprise actively reports its violation of the regulatory provisions of the customs in writing to the Customs and accepts the handling by the Customs, the Customs may deem that the enterprise makes active disclosure and shall impose a lighter or mitigated administrative penalty on it or remit the penalty. Enterprises discovering instances of underpayment or tax evasion following self-examination and subsequently taking the initiative to make up the payment may be subject to reduced or waived surcharges for overdue tax payments in accordance with the law in the event it is deemed by customs to be voluntary disclosure.
13. Open a green channel for customs clearance of materials for the Winter Olympics.
Beijing shall establish special zones for material customs clearance services for international events such as the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to speed up inspection and release.
III. Continue to promote port coordination and strengthen cross-regional customs clearance collaboration
14. Innovate the distinctive "two hubs" regulatory model.
Beijing shall employ its "two hubs", two international airports, to improve the handling and regulatory process for inbound flights with alternative landings, establish a "one city and two airports" emergency handling contact mechanism for alternative landings, and improve the efficiency of air transportation in Beijing.
15. Implement the exchange and sharing of facilitation measures for advanced certified enterprises.
Beijing shall implement the mutual recognition of facilitation measures for Beijing and Tianjin customs advanced certified enterprises and share cross-customs district preferential policies such as guarantee-free treatment for advanced certified enterprises in both places. Beijing shall strengthen enterprise credit cultivation and further increase the number of Advanced Entry Opportunity (AEO) advanced certified enterprises. Beijing shall establish additional special customs clearance service desks for AEO-certified enterprises, assign special staff to solve unexpected problems, and provide targeted services.
16. Support the development of cross-border e-commerce and other new business patterns.
Beijing shall launch an array of facilitation measures for B2B exports of cross-border e-commerce, spanning one registration, one point connection, convenient customs clearance, simplified declaration, prioritized inspection, customs transit, and convenient return of goods. Beijing enterprises shall be encouraged to carry out B2B exports of cross-border e-commerce through Tianjin Port. Tianjin enterprises shall be supported in carrying out B2C exports of cross-border e-commerce through Beijing airports.
The above measures shall be effective from the issuance of the announcement.
The announcement is hereby issued.
Beijing Customs
February 10, 2021