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

The General Administration of Customs of P. R. China recently issued an Announcement on the adjustment of administrative measures for entry-exit personal postal articles.

According to the Announcement, as of September 1, 2010, duty exemption shall apply where the import duty payable on personal postal articles is no more than CNY 50.

Some people think this move will increase costs of overseas purchasing agency.

Recently, the reporter interviewed principal with the Department of Customs Control and Inspection under the General Administration of Customs of P. R. China at this point.

Considering the Announcement to increase costs of overseas purchasing agency results from a confusion of concepts between articles and goods

Principal with the Department of Customs Control and Inspection: in accordance with relevant stipulations in Customs Law of the People's Republic of China, China exercises different administrative measures over different supervised objects given that inward commodities are distinguished as goods, articles, and so on.

Articles have a characteristic of "non-trade" and shall not be sold or leased after entering the country.

Apparently, commodities purchased through overseas agencies are profit-making, and such commodities will re-enter the field of trade. Therefore, such commodities are not articles, but goods.

As for goods, no matter how much they cost, import duties shall apply as required.

The Announcement specifies again that "as to import/export commercial mails by post, the Customs clearance formalities shall be applied in accordance with the stipulations on goods."

Some people argue that the implementation of the Announcement will increase costs of overseas purchasing agency. I think it results from a confusion of concepts between articles and goods.

Why to introduce the Announcement

Principal with the Department of Customs Control and Inspection: the adjustment by the Announcement on the administrative measures for entry-exit postal articles is mainly embodied in the threshold of import duties. This is determined by changes in the objective situation, taking account of both the convenience for personal postal articles and the need to combat illegal smuggling activities.

In the early years of the People's Republic of China, commodities were in scarcity, and the entry-exit articles through postal delivery had a small quantity and a simple content, mainly personal articles.

In order to take care of overseas Chinese and their relatives, based on the overall policy of the State, China Customs provided certain duty-exemption preferences for entry-exit personal postal articles. After several adjustments made according to the development of situation, in 1994, as stipulated in the Notice of the General Administration of Customs of P. R. China on Adjusting the Limit Value and Duty-Free Allowance of Personal Articles in Entry-Exit Mails, for personal articles mailed to or from China's Hong Kong, and Macao regions, the limit value shall be CNY 800 and the duty-free allowance shall be CNY 400; and for those to or from any other countries and regions, the limit value shall be CNY 1,000 and the duty-free allowance shall be CNY 500.

With the rapid development of China's economy, domestic commodity markets become extremely abundant, and relevant situation has changed dramatically.

First, most of the inward mails are no longer articles gifted between friends and relatives, the effect of preferential policies previously laid down by China Customs have been weakened in taking care of the demand from overseas Chinese and their relatives.

Second, the nature of the entry-exit mails has transformed to commodities with a nature of commercial transaction.