China Customs Administrative Measures on Country of Origin of Import & Export Goods under China-Iceland Free Trade Agreement

[2014-07-10 17:11:24]

The GACC hereby promulgates China Customs Administrative Measures on Country of Origin of Import & Export Goods under China-Iceland Free Trade Agreement, which were adopted on June 30, 2014 and shall enter into force on July 1, 2014.

China Customs Minister
June 30, 2014

China Customs Administrative Measures on Country of Origin of Import & Export Goods under China-Iceland Free Trade Agreement

Article 1 These Measures are formulated in accordance with the Customs Law of the P. R. China, the Regulations of the P. R. China on Origin of Import & Export Goods, and the regulations in China-Iceland Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Article 2 These Measures are applicable to supervision over the origin of import and export goods under China-Iceland FTA.

Article 3 Where import goods are compliant with any of the following conditions, their country of origin shall be Iceland:
(1) Totally acquired or manufactured in Iceland;
(2) Manufactured within Iceland by using raw materials originating in China or Iceland;
(3) Non-totally acquired or manufactured in Iceland but compliant with the FTA’s rules of origin specific to products such as change in tariff classification, regional value component, and manufacture processing;
The goods originating in Iceland, where being directly transported from Iceland to China, may be applied to the conventional tariff under the FTA in China’s Import & Export Tariffs.

Article 4 The goods that are “totally acquired or manufactured in Iceland” refer to:
(1) Mineral products extracted from the territory or seabed of Iceland;
(2) Plants and plant products harvested in Iceland;
(3) Live animals bred in Iceland;
(4) Products derived from the live animals bred in Iceland;
(5) Products acquired from hunting or fishing in Iceland;
(6) Fishes and products acquired from the territorial waters of Iceland;
(7) Fishes and products acquired by Iceland-owned ships without the territorial waters of Iceland, including its exclusive economic zones;
(8) Products acquired from processing of the products aforesaid in (6) and (7) on Iceland-owned factory ships;
(9) Products extracted from the seabed or subsoil without Iceland’s territorial waters, on which Iceland has development rights by its domestic law;
(10) Used goods collected in Iceland for the purpose of raw material recycling;
(11) Scraps generated in Iceland for the only purpose of raw material recycling;
(12) Products acquired from the processing of the products aforesaid in items (1)-(11) of this Article.

Article 5 The goods made in Iceland with non-native materials, where being compliant with the FTA’s origin rule of change in tariff classification, shall be regarded as the goods originating in Iceland.

Article 6 The goods made in Iceland with non-native materials, where being compliant with the FTA’s origin rule of regional value component, shall be regarded as the goods originating in Iceland. The regional value component herein shall be calculated in the formula:

Goods Price–Non-native Material Price
Regional Value Component = ---------------------------------------------------- × 100%
Goods Price

Therein, the goods price is FOB price, and the non-native material price is CIF price.

Article 7 The goods or materials originating in China, where being used in Iceland for manufacturing another goods and as component thereof, shall be regarded as originating in Iceland.

Article 8 As regards the goods compliant with the FTA’s origin rule of change in tariff classification, where the non-native materials used therein are priced within 10% of the FOB price of the goods, such goods shall be regarded as originating in Iceland.

Article 9 The following operations or processing have no influence on the origin identification:
(1) Goods preservation processing;
(2) Package assembly and disassembly;
(3) Washing, cleaning, dedusting, removal of oxide/oil/painting/other coatings;
(4) Textile ironing and pressing;
(5) Japanning and polishing;
(6) Corn and rice hulling, bleaching, polishing;
(7) Sugar coloring or caking;
(8) Fruits and vegetable peeling, denucleating, hulling;
(9) Sharpening, simple grinding or cutting;
(10) Filtering, screening, selecting, sorting, grading, matching, assembling;
(11) Simple bottling, canning, bagging, encasing, packing;
(12) Affixing or printing of label, tag, or mark on product or package;
(13) Simple mixture of products;
(14) Simple assembly or disassembly of products;
(15) Processing for the convenience of harbor handling;
(16) Animal slaughter;
(17) Combination of the items of (1)-(16) herein

Article 10 As regards the accessories or spare parts along with the import goods, where they should be classified into the import goods and should not be separately invoiced and they are within normal quantity and value ranges, their countries of origin shall not influence the identification of the origin of the import goods.

Article 11 The origins of packing materials and containers of the import goods shall not influence the identification of the origin of the import goods.

Article 12 As regards the articles as below used in manufacture of the import goods, their origins shall not influence the identification of the origin of the import goods:

(1) fuel, energy, catalyst and solvent;
(2) testing or inspection equipment or device;
(3) glove, eyeglass, shoe, apparel, safety equipment;
(4) tool, mould and swage die;
(5) equipment maintenance materials;
(6) lubricant, grease, synthetic materials;
(7) other articles used in the manufacture process

Article 13 The “direct transport” herein means the import goods are transported from Iceland directly to China without transit via other countries/regions.

The import goods, upon all of the following conditions, also shall be regarded as “directly transported” to China:
(1) Transit via other countries/regions is merely due to geographical reason or transport requirement;
(2) No trade or consumption of the goods is conducted in other countries/regions;
(3) No processing other than loading, unloading and adjustment of the goods is conducted in other countries/regions;
(4) The goods are under customs supervision of other countries/regions.

Article 14 The importers shall fill in China Customs Declaration Form for Import, declaring application of the FTA conventional tariff, by submission of the following documents:

(1) the valid original Certificate of Origin issued by Iceland authority (see Annex 1) or original Declaration of Origin made by Iceland approved exporters (see Annex 2);
(2) goods commercial invoice and related transport documents

Article 15 Where the importers fail to submit the origin certificate or declaration during their import declarations, they shall make up for the origin certificate or declaration before their customs formalities are concluded (see Annex 3).

As regards the make-up declarations, the customs may, upon importer’s application, release the goods after levying security deposit equivalent to tax payable, unless otherwise regulated by law.

Where the importers fail to make the origin declaration during import declaration, their goods shall not be applied to the FTA conventional tariff and shall be subjected to MFN duties, ordinary duties and import value-added tax.

Article 16 Upon all of the following conditions, the importers may, within six months from the date of security deposit, apply to the customs for return of the deposit:

(1) upon import declaration, make-up declaration of the Iceland origin has been made, declaring the application of the FTA conventional tariff;
(2) the origin certificate or declaration has been submitted along with other documents.

Article 17 The goods from Iceland, where their duty-paid value is not more than USD 600, may be exempted from submission of the origin certificate or declaration, but excluding the imports in multiple times for circumvention.

Article 18 The submitted Certificate of Origin shall be compliant with all of the following conditions:
(1) Having unique certificate number;
(2) Specifying one or more items of the same batch of import goods;
(3) Providing the evidence of origin in Iceland;
(4) Having security feature such as Iceland signed/sealed notice to China Customs;
(5) Printed and filled in English.

The Certificate of Origin shall be issued before/upon the export and have one-year validity.

Article 19 Where the Certificate of Origin fail to be issued before/upon export owing to force majeure, it may be reissued within one year from the shipment date; the reissued certificate shall be marked “reissued” in its “remark” column.

Where an unused Certificate of Origin is lost or damaged, the importers may require Iceland exporters to provide the copy certificate with the same validity as the original.

Article 20 The submitted Declaration of Origin shall be compliant with all of the following conditions:
(1) Made by Iceland approved exporters, affixed with their special seals;
(2) provided with the approved exporters’ authorization numbers;
(3) the listed goods are compliant with the FTA rules of origin;
(4) the Declaration shall be made before the import;
(5) the Declaration shall be one-year valid from the filling date.

Article 21 China Customs may propose to Iceland authority for verification of the origin certificate or declaration or may conduct the verification as per other procedures agreed upon between the both parties.

During the period of awaiting the verification result, the customs may, upon importer application, release the goods by levying security deposit that is equivalent to applicable MFN duties, ordinary import duties or other tax; after the verification, the customs shall, based on verification result, conduct return of the deposit or its conversion to import duties.

Article 22 Under any of the following circumstances, the import goods shall not be applied to the FTA conventional tariff:
(1) The goods are not compliant with these Measures;
(2) The importers or exporters fail to conform to the FTA regulations;
(3) The origin certificate or declaration is not compliant with these Measures;
(4) The origin certificate has information and feature inconsistent with the customs record;
(5) The origin declaration has information and feature inconsistent with the customs record;
(6) The customs receive no result of origin verification within prescribed time limit, or the result received is not adequate to determine the authenticity of origin certificate or declaration or information.

Article 23 As regards export declaration, the exporters from China shall fill in China Customs Declaration Form for Export and submit electronic Certificate of Origin or its paper copy under the China-Iceland FTA.

Article 24 Where origin information are printed on the import and export goods and their packages, the origin information shall be consistent with those identified as per these Measures.

Article 25 The customs shall keep confidential any business secrets acquired through these Measures, unless otherwise regulated by China law/regulations.

Article 26 Any violation of these Measures, including smuggling, violation of customs supervision or Customs Law, shall be subjected to China’s administrative penalty or even criminal penalty.

Article 27 Meanings of some terms herein:
Materials refer to the articles used to manufacture or transform to a kind of goods, including parts and components.
Production refers to planting, breeding, mining, harvesting, fishing, trapping, hunting, manufacturing, processing or assembly.
Producer refers to the person(s) in planting, breeding, mining, harvesting, fishing, trapping, hunting, manufacturing, processing or assembly.
Simple mixture involves no chemical reaction.

Article 28 These Measures shall be construed by the GACC hereto.

Article 29 These Measures shall enter into force on July 1, 2014.


Annexes:
1. Certificate of Origin
2. Declaration of Origin
3. Statement of Origin Qualification (omitted)
Source: ETCN