Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for Management of Orig

Article 16 Where the Customs is skeptical of the authenticity of the certificate of origin under Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement or whether relevant goods are originally produced in the member states of Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement, the Customs may file request to the applicable agencies of the member states for verification of the origin of the goods.

During the period of waiting for the results of the verification, the Customs may collect deposit for the goods equivalent to tariff duty payable for the same according to the tax rate of most favored nation, ordinary tax rate or other tax rate prior to customs clearance of the same, complete import procedures and conduct customs statistics according to provisions provided that customs shall complete procedures for refunding the deposit or otherwise transform the deposit into import tariff duty according to the results of the verification immediately the verification is finished.

Where the Customs does not receive the results of verification by relevant governmental agency of member state of Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement or otherwise the results of verification do not contain the information which can sufficiently determine the authenticity of the certificate of origin or the true origin of the goods, the goods may not be subject to agreed tax rate or preferential tax rate, the Customs shall immediately complete procedures for transformation of deposit into import tariff and Customs statistical data shall be modified accordingly.

The Customs may not release goods subject to state restriction of import or suspected of violation of laws until the certificate of origin of the goods has been examined and verified.

Article 17 In time of declaration of export goods, the consignor of the export goods shall submit to the Customs the certificate of origin under Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement in electronic format or carbon copy of the certificate in the event of unavailability of submission of electronic format of the certificate.

Article 18 Except otherwise provided by laws, administrative regulations and relevant judicial interpretations, the Customs has obligations to keep confidential the trade secrets obtained pursuant to the provisions hereof and may not disclose or otherwise use for other purposes the trade secrets without the consent of the consignee of the import goods.

Article 19 Where any violation of these Measures constitutes smuggling or acts of violation of provisions on customs regulations or other acts of violation of customs laws, the Customs shall treat the same according to relevant provisions of the Customs Law and the Regulations on Implementation of Administrative Penalties by the Customs of the People's Republic of China provided, however, that criminal responsibilities shall be investigated if a crime is constituted.