GACC Announcement No.36, 2013 on Domestic Sale of Goods under Preferential Trade Agreements

 
In accordance with China Customs Administrative Regulations on Preferential Origins of Import & Export Goods (GACC Decree No. 181), hereby announced are the matters concerning the application of conventional tariffs or special preferential tariffs to the goods aimed at the domestic sale from Special Customs-Supervised Zones (hereinafter as the Zones) and Bonded-Goods Supervising Venues (hereinafter as the Venues):

1. When first declaring for the entry of goods to the Zones/Venues from abroad, the importers involved shall provide the import declaration forms or entry goods registry forms along with electronic data version of those forms as per customs declaration requirements and shall apply in writing to the governing customs houses for domestic sale of the goods by submitting the documents below:

(1) Certificate of Origin or Declaration of Origin (original, or original with the second copy);
(2) Commercial documents and transport documents
(3) Registry of Application for Domestic Sale of the Goods under Preferential Trade Agreements (as annexed hereto, hereinafter as the Application Registry);
(4) Other certifying documents as required.

2. Where the Certificate/Declaration of Origin is valid and the goods are imported in "one batch" and compliant with the "direct consignment" requirements, the governing customs shall permit the application for domestic sale by commenting and across-page stamping on the original Certificate/Declaration of Origin and on the Application Registry.

Where being suspicious of the authenticity of the Certificate/Declaration or of the origin of the goods, the governing customs may withhold the Certificate/Declaration originals and conduct inspection abroad concerning the origin;

Where failing to submit the Certificate/Declaration of Origin by reason of force majeure, the importers shall undertake supplementary declaration concerning the origin; and the governing customs shall comment and across-page stamp on the Application Registry and on the supplementary declaration form (copy).

3. When the goods exit from the Zones/Venues for domestic sale, the importers shall submit the customs-stamped documents and the completed Application Registry aforesaid in Article 2 and provide the import declaration forms as required.

Based upon the customs approval, the goods involved may be eligible for relevant conventional tariffs or special preferential tariffs; and the governing customs shall withdraw the Certificate/Declaration originals and the Application Registry.

Where the importers apply for domestic sale batch-by-batch, the governing customs may, at the first batch, withdraw the Certificate/Declaration originals and return the copies and the Application Registry stamped across-page to the importers; the rest batches may be done in the same manner; when the involved goods are sold out or at the ultimate batch to apply, the importers shall deliver the original Application Registry to the governing customs.

4. Where, at the time of exit of the goods, the compliant Certificate of Origin is still absent or relevant inspection abroad is in progress, the importers shall apply to the governing customs for release based on cash deposit, and the customs may conduct the release of the goods after collecting the cash deposit equivalent to tax receivable.

Where the importers timely supplement the compliant Certificate or the origin of the goods is confirmed true, the governing customs may permit the application of relevant conventional tariffs or special preferential tariffs and may return the cash deposit that is already collected.

5. As of the effective date of this Announcement, the conventional or special preferential tariffs may be applied by batch to the for-domestic-sale goods within the Zones/Venus under Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Qingdao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen Customs authorities.

Where the importers apply for one-off domestic sale of all the goods, nationwide customs may conduct without being restricted by the clause aforesaid.

6. In any of the following cases, the goods for domestic sale may not be eligible for the conventional or special preferential tariffs:

(1) The importers fail to make an application for domestic sale or their application is not approved at their first declaration for the entry to the Zones/Venues;
(2) The across-page stamps affixed by the governing customs are lost or damaged on relevant documents said herein;
(3) At the time of domestic sale, the Certificate of Origin is expired;
(4) At the time of domestic sale, the declared real state of the goods is out of the extent of slight processing or treatment as per relevant origin regulations;
(5) Other cases determined by the customs.

7. The importers shall print by themselves the Application Registry for their application.

The Application Registry shall use A4-sized paper. The importers shall self-adjust the rows for commodity items in the Application Registry as per their real number of commodities, and shall print adequate pages for their batch-by-batch sale and also indicate the total page count therein so as for the customs to affix an across-page stamp.

8. The "one batch" herein refer to the imported goods listed on one bill of lading belonging to one consignee and carried simultaneously to one port by one means of transport.

The confirmation of the "one batch" shall not be affected by the necessity of partial shipment owing to any objective cause before reaching China’s customs territory (port).

This Announcement shall enter into force as of its issue date.

Annex: Registry of Application for Domestic Sale of the Goods under Preferential Trade Agreements (omitted)


The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC)
July 8, 2013