China Customs' Explanation of Adjustment on Administrative Measures for Entry-Exit Personal Postal Articles

Recently, in particular, online shopping, mail order, overseas purchasing agency, and other services are developing rapidly. As can be found in our actual supervision, some lawbreakers attempt to split their imports into several consignments, fraudulently declaring as personal articles, so as to evade supervision by taking advantage of the exemption preferential stipulations for personal articles entering through mails and express deliveries.

This unlawful act not only causes losses to the State tax revenue, but also evades the State's control over imports, bringing related commodities without inspections of safety, hygiene, and quality into the domestic market. And thus consumers cannot get proper protection.

Differences between the duty collection on entry of the same articles by mail and along with passengers

Principal with the Department of Customs Control and Inspection: Owing to historical and practical reasons, the administrative policies are different to some extent on personal articles brought in respectively by mail and by passengers themselves, mainly as follows:

I Thresholds of import duty are different.

First, China Customs authorities shall conduct duty-free Customs clearance for personal articles obtained abroad and brought in by resident passengers with a total value no more than CNY 5,000; and for personal articles brought in by non-resident passengers and to be retained in China's territory with a total value no more than CNY 2,000.
Single variety of such articles shall be within the reasonable quantity for personal use. However, otherwise stipulations shall apply to tobacco products, alcoholic products and 20 kinds of commodities subject to import duties as required by the State.

Entry-exit articles along with passengers under multiple entries and exits in a short term or within one day shall not be applicable to the foregoing standard, to the extent of the necessity of journey.

Second, where the import duty payable is over CNY 50 on entry mailed articles, full duties shall be levied against their commodity value.

II Personal articles differ in standards.

First, for personal articles worth over CNY 5,000 brought in by resident passengers and those over CNY 2,000 brought in by non-resident passengers and to be retained in China's territory, only the exceeding amount shall be subject to import duties after confirmed by China Customs authorities as for personal use actually; and for inseparable single articles, full duties shall be levied on them.

Second, personal postal articles are restricted by their value, that is, for personal articles mailed to or from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions, the limit value shall be CNY 800 each time; and for those to or from any other countries and regions, the limit value shall be CNY 1,000 each time.

Where the entry-exit personal postal articles exceed the limit values as stipulated, the return formalities shall be applied or the Customs clearance shall be conducted in accordance with stipulations on goods.
However, in the case that there is only one inseparable article in the postal parcel, though exceeding the limit values, it may go through Customs clearance as personal articles if confirmed by China Customs authorities as for personal use indeed.

Specific duty rates and modes of payment of import duties on luggage and postal articles

Principal with the Department of Customs Control and Inspection: in accordance with the stipulations in Chapter Ⅴ of the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Duties (Decree No. 392 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China), duties on entry articles and other import duties collected by China Customs are combined into the import duties to be collected by China Customs authorities according to law.