GACC Announcement No. 50, 2012 on Duty-Free Purchases by Hainan Exit Passengers

 

To standardize the duty-free purchases by passengers exiting from the Hainan island, based on China State Council's decision, the GACC hereby promulgates the revised Provisional Measures Of China Customs For Supervision Of Duty-Free Purchases By Exit Passengers On The Hainan Island (annexed hereto), which shall come into force from November 1, 2012 along with simultaneous repeal of GACC Announcements No. 20 and 22 of 2011.


October 24, 2012


Annex:



Chapter 1 General Rules

Article 1 Upon the authorization by the State Council, these Provisional Measures are formulated by China Customs authority for the purpose of regulation of the duty-free purchases by exit passengers on the Hainan island.

Article 2 These Provisional Measures are applicable to China Customs supervision over the purchases of duty-free goods by exit passengers at specified duty-free shops on the Hainan island and over their departure by air along with all of their shopped goods.

Article 3 Any duty-free shops located in cities shall set their respective delivery sites, based on the customs approval, within the domestic isolation area of the Hainan Airport; however, the duty-free shops located in the Airport's isolation area may keep no such delivery sites.

The Airport's isolation area and the delivery sites shall both be supervised by the customs authority under its requirements.

Article 4 The exit passengers shall buy the duty-free goods in accordance with prescribed times, varieties, quantity and value; where beyond the prescription, the duty-free shops shall not sell.


Chapter 2 Supervision over the Sale of Duty-Free Goods

Article 5 Hainan residents as the exit passengers may enjoy at most once the duty-free purchases, and non-residents thereof may enjoy at most twice the duty-free purchases, within one Gregorian calendar year.

Article 6 Upon their duty-free purchases, the exit passengers shall present their valid certificates of identity, information on their outbound flights, and information on their previous duty-free purchases.

One duty-free purchase refers to one exit by air along with purchased duty-free goods.

Article 7 One duty-free purchase for each passenger shall be limited in value to not more than CNY 8,000, and the annexed table provides the upper quantity limit of duty-free goods.

Additionally, where paying import duties on his/her entry goods, each exit passenger may buy one more commodity at a unit price of more than CNY 8,000.

Article 8 Where his/her duty-free purchase limit has any remaining (or unused) amount, an exit passenger may obtain one-off adjustment in his/her dutiable purchase of goods at a unit price of more than CNY 8,000.

The customs may levy duties by taking "duty-free shop's retail commodity price minus remaining duty-free amount" as duty-paid value; where the remaining duty-free amount is unused, the customs may treat duty-free shop's retail commodity price as duty-paid value.

Where an exit passenger buys only one commodity at more than CNY 8,000, the customs may treat "duty-free shop's retail commodity price minus CNY 8,000" as duty-paid value.

Where a duty amount is below CNY 50, the duty may be exempted.

Article 9 The customs taxation shall employ the duty rate prior to deduction of remaining duty-free amount regarding the commodity at more than CNY 8,000.

Article 10 The exit passengers may undertake customs payment through the duty-free shops.

The duty-free shops shall concentrate their duty payment to the customs every 10 days and shall, within 5 workdays from the date of customs issue of duty pay certificates, pay their duties to specified banks (treasuries);

Where overdue in the payment, the customs may levy overdue fine at five per ten thousand of the overdue amount each day from the expiry date till the paid-in-full date, but the overdue fine, whose threshold is CNY 50, shall not exceed the duty amount.


Chapter 3 Supervision over Exit of the Duty-Free Goods

Article 11 The city-based duty-free shops shall affix seals to the duty-free goods bought by the exit passengers and send the sealed goods to their delivery sites within the airport isolation areas.

Article 12 The exit passengers shall take delivery of the duty-free goods from the delivery sites within the airport isolation areas by presenting their valid certificates of identity, delivery notes/bills of lading, and boarding pass.

The duty-free shops within the airport isolation areas may deliver the duty-free goods at the time of their sale.

Article 13 The duty-free shops shall, prior to storage of the duty-free goods, record electronic data of those goods as per customs requirements.

Upon delivery to the exit passengers, the duty-free shops shall timely send to the customs the complaint electronic information on the exit passengers, outbound flights and the duty-free goods already sold.

Article 14 In need of departure from the airport isolation areas as due to flight delay or cancel, the exit passengers shall entrust their duty-free goods to the care by the duty-free shops or delivery sites for the purpose of later collection upon their return.

Where the actual flight departure date is not the original departure date, the original date shall be recorded as the effective departure date.

Article 15 After delivery to the exit passengers, where goods refund or change emerges owing to poor quality or damage, the duty-free shops shall entertain as per customs regulations.


Chapter 4 Legal Liabilities

Article 16 Under any of the following circumstances, the exit passengers shall be banned from the duty-free purchases herein within three years:

Failure to exit by carrying the duty-free goods along as per the regulations herein;

Presentation of invalid or counterfeit certificates of identification;

Violation of other relevant requirements

Article 17 Where the duty-free shops sell to incompliant persons or beyond prescribed times, varieties, quantity or value, the customs may conduct penalty in accordance with relevant regulations in the GACC Decree No. 132 and the shops shall compensate for duties/taxes as on import goods.

Article 18 Any smuggling act, violation of customs regulations, or crime shall be subjected to penalty in accordance with relevant China laws/regulations.


Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions

Article 19 Meanings of relevant phrases:

The exit passengers herein refer to not-younger-than 16 years old, domestic or foreign passengers, including Hainan residents, to exit from Hainan island by airplane but not to exit from China territory.

The certificates of identification include domestic residents' identity cards, mainland travel permits issued to Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan residents, and passports of foreign passengers.

Article 20 Other supervisions over the duty-free shops and goods herein may also resort to current China regulations.

Article 21 These Provisional Measures shall be construed by the GACC hereto.

Article 22 These Provisional Measures shall come into force as of November 1, 2012.

Attached Table: Limit of Duty-Free Purchases by Each Exit Passenger Each Time