No. 4 Joint Announcement of Beijing and Tianjin: The Announcement of Concrete Measures to Constantly Improve the Business Environment to Promote the Facilitation of Trading across the Beijing-Tianjin

To implement the decision-making deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to optimize the business environment, and continue to improve the facilitation of Beijing-Tianjin Cross-Border Trade, revolving on reducing forms and certificates, optimizing processes, improving efficiency, and promoting facilitation, and on the basis of the actuation situation, we have formulated the specific measures which are hereby announced as follows:

I. Simplifying forms and certificates and promoting paperless operations

1. Automatic import license measures implemented for goods for 118 goods under the customs goods number, categorized in 15 types, will be canceled.

2. Optimizing documents attached to the customs declaration. In export and declaration links, enterprises do not need to submit export customs authorization letters, contracts, invoices, and packing lists to the customs in the paper form. In import and declaration links, enterprises do not need to submit packing lists to the customs.

3. Customs regulation operation places of marine transportation ports will release goods online. They will not require enterprises to go through customs clearance formalities with original bill of lading (B/L) and shipping bill any longer. Customs may no longer place a release stamp on B/L and shipping bill.

4. Promoting the electronic logistical information of ports. We shall promote the electronization, in which maritime transportation bill will be changed with B/L, in accordance with the unified deployment of relevant national authorities. We will comprehensively promote the paperless operation of international container equipment receipt and realize paperless and electronic operation in such links as cargo handling, warehousing and tallying, customs declaration, logistics and transportation, and cost settlement at port operation docks. In accordance with the unified deployment of relevant national authorities, we will promote the electronic customs regulation of storage yards of containers in domestic and foreign trade. By the end of 2019, we will realize the electronic circulation of such information as maritime transportation bill, bill of lading, and packing list in main ocean routes.

II. Regulating Charges and Reducing Cost

5. Optimizing tax collection and management model. We will further enlarge the application range of "consolidated tax collection" and increase the ratio of the "releasing first and collecting tax late". We will enlarge and promote the guarantee and insurance of customs duties.

6. Regulating charging behaviors in fumigation, disinfection and other quarantine processing links. We will break down barriers, effectively liberalize market access, and reduce charging standards by introducing competition. We will further strengthen the supervision and inspection of quarantine processing enterprises, strictly implement the charging disclosure management, and regulate the charging behaviors.

7. The part of local retention of port construction expense will be exempt from being levying.

8. We will sort out and regulate the list of "one-stop sunshine price" of port services before we launch the "sunshine price upgrade version." At the same time, we will increase the promotion and publicity of customers and further enhance the demonstration role of "sunshine price".

III. Optimizing Process; Improving Customs Clearance Efficiency

9. Optimizing the inspection and supervision processes of parts and components of imported automobiles.

Optimizing the inspection process. The verification of imported automotive parts and components whose destination is Beijing and Tianjin, only involving goods inspection business, is carried out by local customs; automotive parts and components whose imported LCL goods fail to meet the port verification instructions can be released by enterprises in advance.

Optimizing the testing process. For imported automotive parts and components destined for Beijing and Tianjin and involving CCC certification, local customs may directly accept the CCC certification certificate or CCC certification exemption certificate document submitted by an enterprises in legal inspection and entry certification processes. Generally, no sampling inspection is carried out. For imported automotive parts and components that must go through the sampling inspection procedure, under the control of sampling inspection in the system or involving early warning measures involving major quality and safety risks, they may be sampled and inspected by local customs or by the port Customs or be sampled and inspected by port customs and supervised by local customs in accordance with the principle of facilitation.

10. We will have the mechanism that the customs forms declared on a given day shall be "dealt with" on the same day implemented at the customs. The declaration forms that are qualified for release declared on the current day will be released on the same day. For goods that shall be transported to designated sites of customs and are qualified for inspection before 3pm, the inspection operation will be completed on the same day. We will promote and improve the "Appointment Customs Clearance" mode, so that enterprises can make appointments to check procedures at non-working hours and holidays to ensure 24/7 accessibility.

11. Comprehensively promoting the integration of customs clearance at sea transport sites. For goods entering and exiting New Port Area and Dongjiang Port Area of Tianjin Port, an enterprise can independently choose the customs area code 0202 (The name of the customs area is "New Port Customs") or the code of the customs area 0217 (The name of the customs area is "Dongjiang Port Area") to declare the customs declaration form to the customs. Inspection shall be carried out by the competent customs at the actual entry/exit ports of goods.

12. Promoting the "dual optimization" reform. According to the integrated planning and construction progress of container terminals in Beijiang Port Area of Tianjin Port, once conditions are permitted, we will promote the comprehensive optimization reform of the logistics process and the customs clearance process and implement the customs clearance mode (featuring that inspection and release is implemented after the arrival of goods at ports) in Beijiang Port Area.?

13.?Continuing to optimize the electronic document review of inspection and quarantine trunk system. We will deepen the electronic document review operation of e-CIQ system, optimize the manual review process of e-CIQ system, and strengthen the risk control management of e-CIQ system.

IV. Providing Convenient Services

14. Improving the pickup efficiency of goods to be verified. We will establish the pickup verification "green passage" and "cargo concentration green passage after the verification". Each storage yard handles 24/7 verifying pickup business. The Beijiang Port Area and the Dongjiang Port Area implement pickup verification within six hours and four hours, respectively.

15. We will establish the wood packaging verification green channel for inspection and quarantine of exported mechanical and electrical products and imported automotive parts.

16. Continuing to enrich and improve the service function of classified WeChat Public Account. We will support and help enterprises to lock in tax-related elements in advance and provide real-time query functions such as classified information.

17. Continuing to promote the pre-ruling service. We shall promptly accept the pre-ruling application services in terms of classification of accepted enterprises, price verification, and place of origin, and solve the difficult problems in the above three aspects before customs clearance.

18. Setting up special places of business consulting for parts and components of imported automobiles. We will provide professional consultation for CCC entry certification related business of imported automobile parts and components, provide contact ways of relevant technical institutions, assist enterprises to process relevant certification documents in advance, and reduce the situation of port detention caused by undocumented arrival of automobile parts and components.

19. Improving the port operation efficiency. The ratio for container ports to pick up and discharge containers within 30 minutes (in terms of monthly average operation timeliness) will be over 60%, and the ratio within 60 minutes will be over 90% (The calculation will begin with the arrival of vehicles, except for refrigerators, flat rack containers, ultra-low/high temperature storage containers and multiple containers for a single bill requiring the operations to exchange containers). The average time for vehicles to pass the gate shall be within two minutes, and the average time for handling business at windows within 10 minutes.

V. Carrying Forward the Application of the International Trade Single Window

20. We will apply the tax reduction and exemption follow-up business declaration in the "Single Window" of Beijing and implement Customs Special Payment Letter in the enterprise's self-printing format.

21. Optimizing and improving Beijing "Single Window" mobile service function. Relying on customs data service channel, we will provide enterprises with the receipt function of shipping bills and release via WeChat self-service. We will optimize and extend the mobile service function of Beijing "Single Window", timely increase types of mobile self-service business, and provide convenient information services for enterprise customs clearance.

22. We will strengthen the connection of tax system and the Single Window system, and realize the filing and certificate issuance for export tax rebate (exemption) and the declaration of tax exemption, reduction and rebate. By the end of 2019, the full coverage of application functions for export tax rebate (exemption) will be realized.