It is specified in the Measures for the Administrative Reconsideration of the Customs of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Measures for the Administrative Reconsideration of the Customs) that there are the following circumstances of the defending party — relative to the claimer, in the administrative reconsideration.

I. In the event that any citizen, legal person, or other organization is not convinced of any specific administrative act of the customs, the customs that performs the specific administrative act shall be the defending party.

As stipulated in Article 16 of the Measures for the Administrative Reconsideration of the Customs, "in the event that any citizen, legal person, or other organization is not convinced of any specific administrative act of the customs and claims for administrative reconsideration as per these Measures, the customs that performs the specific administrative act shall be the defending party".

The defending party is a concept relative to the claimer. The defending party refers to the administrative organ that is thought by the citizen, legal person, or other organization to have trespassed on their lawful rights and interests and is notified by the administrative body for reconsideration to join the administrative reconsideration. As the higher-level reconsideration system is adopted for the customs, the administrative body for reconsideration must be the higher-level customs of the customs that performs a specific administrative act and the defending party, the same as other administrative organs, must be the customs who performs a specific administrative act. The defending party in the administrative reconsideration usually has the following features:

Firstly, for any customs or organization authorized by relevant laws and regulations, as long as it performs the external administrative functions, it is likely to become the defending party, no matter the customs or the authorized organization itself has the administrative power or not. Currently, China's customs are classified into four levels, including not only China Customs, the direct customs, affiliated customs and grass-roots customs (subdivided into the customs at the deputy section level and the department level), but also such industry associations as the customs brokers association, association of port-of-entry, and the free trade export association, which also perform some administrative functions on behalf of the customs. When the above customs and relevant associations perform some specific administrative act, which the claimer thinks to have trespassed on his lawful rights and interests and claims for administrative reconsideration, the customs and relevant associations then would be the defending party. Noticeably, a natural person could not be the defending party in administrative reconsideration. Even though a staff of the customs performs a specific administrative act, the defending party shall be the customs to which the staff is affiliated. This is because that the law enforcement behavior of the civil servants represents the will and the behavior of the department he/she works for. Secondly, the defending party must be a customs or an organization authorized by relevant laws and regulations that executes the administrative power and performs the disputing administrative act. The defending party must have performed some specific administrative act which is thought by the claimer to have trespassed on his/her lawful rights and interests; and the specific administrative act must have causal relation with the damage of the claimer's lawful rights and interests. As the administrative organ, the customs on the one hand exercises the administrative power on behalf of the nation; while on the other hand, the customs shall join the civil legal relation as other civil subjects. Obviously, the customs could not be the defending party in the case of playing the role of civil subject. Meanwhile, the customs with the administrative power does not perform any administrative act; or performs any administrative act that is thought to have not trespassed on the lawful rights and interests of the citizens, legal persons or other organizations; or performs any administrative act that is thought to have trespassed on the lawful rights and interests of the citizens, legal persons or other organizations but the claimer does not claim to the administrative body for reconsideration, then the customs shall not be deemed as the defending party.