GACC Decree No.208 on Supervising Pingtan Experimental Area

 
The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) hereby promulgates China Customs Measures (Trial) on Supervision of Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area, which shall enter into force on August 1, 2013.

YU Guangzhou
Minister of China Customs
June 27, 2013


Article 1 These Measures concerning Pingtan Comprehensive Experimental Area (as "Pingtan" hereinafter) are formulated in accordance with the Customs Law of the P. R. China and other relevant China laws and regulations.

Article 2 These Measures are applicable to China Customs' supervisory efforts over the entry and exit via Pingtan, over transport means and goods into and out of Pingtan, and over intra-Pingtan business firms and premises registered with the customs authorities.

Article 3 The ports between Pingtan and abroad are supervised as the "first line" coverage; the channels between Pingtan and other regions of within China Customs territory are supervised as the "second line" coverage.

Article 4 Pingtan shall establish as required island-wide inspection and monitoring facilities and customs informatization platform; the "first line" and "second line" customs supervision zones and intra-Pingtan customs venues shall be provided with compliant facilities and workplaces usable for supervision; only based upon the GACC's acceptance shall Pingtan carry out relevant operations.

Article 5 Registration with the customs shall be required over the intra-Pingtan importing and exporting firms eligible for bonded treatment, tax reliefs and tax refund, and related logistical firms and customs brokers.

Article 6 Unless otherwise regulated, the customs shall maintain electronic accounts concerning the bonded goods, tax-relieved goods, and tax-refunded goods that are carried into and out of Pingtan.

Article 7 China Customs shall conduct supervision over the trading markets within Pingtan for small commodities originating in Taiwan.

Article 8 The goods banned from entry shall not be carried into Pingtan through the "first line"; the goods banned from exit shall not be carried into Pingtan through the "second line". The intra-Pingtan enterprises shall not undertake the processing trade businesses involving any goods banned from the processing trade mode.


Article 9 Unless otherwise regulated, the customs shall conduct registration over the bonded goods, tax-relievable goods and tax-refundable goods that import and export between Pingtan and abroad, and conduct clearance procedure as required over other kinds of goods moving between Pingtan and abroad.

Article 10 The customs shall conduct bonded-goods or tax-exemption treatment for production-related goods importing from abroad to Pingtan, except the following goods:

(1) Goods for living, consumption, and commercial estate development projects;

(2) Goods banned by law from the bonded or tax-exempt treatment;

(3) Goods under the list banned from the bonded or tax-exempt treatment at the "first line" by the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs hereto.

Article 11 Unless otherwise regulated, the registered goods from abroad into Pingtan may not be subjected to import quota nor import license.

The goods exporting from Pingtan to abroad shall be subjected to export quota and export license.


Article 12 Where being sold to other regions of Chinese mainland, the intra-Pingtan bonded, tax-relieved and tax-refunded goods shall be subjected to China Customs' import clearance formalities; the tax-refundable goods sold from other regions of the mainland to Pingtan shall be subjected to China Customs' export clearance formalities.

Based upon relevant customs formalities, those goods aforesaid may be collectively declared to the customs but may not be declared by spanning more than one month or year.

The intra-Pingtan supervised goods without completion in customs formalities, where in need of transfer to other mainland customs districts, shall be subjected to the declaration formalities concerning customs-shifting transportation.

Article 13 Production-related goods sold to Pingtan from other mainland regions shall be deemed as exportation and eligible for China Customs' export-tax refund, but excluding the following goods:

(1) Goods for living, consumption, and commercial estate development projects;

(2) Goods banned by law from the tax refund;

(3) Goods under the list banned from the tax refund at the "second line" by the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs hereto.

Article 14 As regards the bonded goods made in Pingtan and sold to other mainland regions, the customs shall levy import-related value-added tax and consumption tax as per the declared real state of the goods.

As regards the bonded goods made in Pingtan and sold to other mainland regions, the enterprises may apply for paying the import duties upon materials or upon the declared real state of the goods.

Where the enterprises apply for paying the duties upon materials, the following rules shall prevail:

(1) The enterprises shall apply to the customs at the time of registration of their manuals; before the customs levy of duties, the enterprises may alter their applications;

(2) The customs shall levy the duties upon the bonded materials of the goods;

(3) Where the materials are covered by preferential trade, the enterprises shall declare and submit relevant certificates at the time of registration of the materials, otherwise they shall not be eligible for preferential duty rates on their mainland sales;

Article 15 With respect to the goods under China's preferential trade policies, where in compliance with customs rules of origin, the enterprises may apply for eligibility for preferential duty rates.

Article 16 The goods carried from Pingtan to other mainland regions shall be subjected to import quota and import license. The goods carried to Pingtan from other mainland regions may not be subjected to export quota and export license.

Article 17 Where the goods under electronic accounts transfer between intra-Pingtan enterprises, the enterprises involved shall timely declare relevant electronic data information to the customs.

Article 18 Where the intra-Pingtan enterprises do not keep the bank deposit accounting system for processing trade, the customs may not conduct the unit consumption standards on intra-Pingtan goods under processing trade.

Upon relevant customs formalities, processing-trade further-processing transfer and outward processing businesses may be undertaken between intra-Pingtan enterprises and the enterprises based in other mainland regions.

Article 19 Where selling bonded goods within Pingtan under any of the following circumstances, the sellers shall undertake customs formalities in advance and pay import duties, value-added tax and consumption tax as per Article 14 aforesaid:

(1) Sale to individual persons;

(2) Sale to intra-Pingtan firms, not used for production anymore;

(3) Other circumstances to pay tax

Article 20 Intra-Pingtan goods under tax reliefs shall be subjected to the customs supervisory regulations on tax reliefs.

Article 21 The tax-refunded goods into Pingtan from other mainland regions shall be supervised as per the regulations below:

(1) Registration shall be applied to the exit via the "first line" of the goods in original state or of the finished products from such goods;

(2) Electronic accounting shall be applied to the intra-Pingtan sale and use for production regarding the goods in original state or the finished products from such goods;

(3) Regulations on bonded goods shall be applied to the sale of the goods in original state or of the finished products from such goods to mainland-based processing-trade firms and also applied to their transportation to customs supervision zones or bonded supervision venues;

(4) Where the goods in original state or the finished products from such goods fall into the infrastructure building materials of Pingtan, they shall be verified as per authorities' approvals and as per their consumed quantity;

(5) Regulations on import declaration shall be applied to their intra-Pingtan sale or mainland-oriented sale not covered by the descriptions of Items (2), (3) and (4) herein;

(6) Regulations on import declaration also shall be applied to other circumstances.

Article 22 The customs may continue bonded-goods supervision over the bonded goods transferred between Pingtan and other customs supervision zones, bonded supervision venues or processing trade firms.

Article 23 Where the intra-Pingtan goods bonded, tax-relieved or tax-refunded temporarily exit to the mainland, such goods shall not be applied to other use, processing, or production on the mainland and shall return to Pingtan within a prescribed time.

Article 24 With respect to leftover materials and by-products produced from processing of imported bonded materials by intra-Pingtan firms, the customs shall conduct supervision as per relevant regulations.

Article 25 With respect to any of the following circumstances, the intra-Pingtan firms shall timely report to the customs in writing:

(1) Customs-supervised goods suffer disasters such as force majeure;

(2) Customs-supervised goods suffer damage or loss from factors other than force majeure;

(3) Customs-supervised goods suffer law-enforcement measures such as sealing and detainment;

(4) Enterprise division, merger or bankruptcy.

Article 26 Where customs-supervised goods are damaged or lost owning to force majeure, the enterprises shall immediately declare in writing to the customs and submit certificates issued by insurance and appraisal authorities. The customs may conduct as per the following rules:

(1) With respect to loss of goods that results in the total loss of use value, the customs may conduct cancel-after-verification formalities;

(2) With respect to the goods that are damaged and deprived of original use but still recyclable, the customs shall keep them supervised.

Article 27 The customs-supervised goods that are damaged or lost by the factors other than force majeure shall be disposed as per the following rules:

(1) With respect to the bonded goods into Pingtan from abroad, the intra-Pingtan enterprises shall pay import tax to the customs by using customs-prescribed duty-paid value, tax rates and exchange rates, and also shall submit import quota and license certificates as required.

(2) With respect to the tax-relieved goods into Pingtan from abroad, the intra-Pingtan enterprises shall pay import tax to the customs by using customs-prescribed duty-paid value, tax rates and exchange rates, and also shall submit import quota and license certificates as required.

(3) With respect to the tax-refunded goods into Pingtan from other mainland regions, the intra-Pingtan enterprises shall declare as per the regulations on importation.

Article 28 With respect to the supervised entry-exit goods as below, the intra-Pingtan enterprises may, based on customs formalities, assign special carriers or conduct transportation by themselves:

(1) Small amount of goods worth not more than USD 10,000;

(2) Defective goods entering and exiting via Pingtan for replacement;

(3) Other goods through fulfilled customs formalities.

Without fulfillment of relevant customs formalities, any person entering to or exiting from Pingtan shall not carry or transport the goods that are bonded, tax-relieved and/or tax-refunded within Pingtan.


Article 29 The means of transport via the "first line" shall be supervised as per China Customs Measures on Supervision of Entry-Exit Means of Transport (GACC Decree No. 196) and China Customs Administrative Measures on Manifests of Entry-Exit Means of Transport (GACC Decree No. 172).

The customs may conduct inspection of all means of transport via the "second line", which shall not transport any supervised goods without fulfillment of relevant customs formalities.

Article 30 The motor vehicles originating in Taiwan shall be subjected to the customs measures that are otherwise formulated on their clearance.

Article 31 Personal belongings shall be subjected to the customs measures that are otherwise formulated on their clearance.


Article 32 Unless otherwise regulated, customs statistics shall cover the goods moving via the "first line" between Pingtan and abroad, and the goods moving via the "second line" between Pingtan and other mainland regions shall be listed into separate statistics of the customs.

Article 33 Violation of these Measures and Chinese Customs Law and Regulations shall be subjected to customs administrative penalty or even to criminal liability.

Article 34 These Measures shall be construed by the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC).

Article 35 These Measures shall enter into force on August 1, 2013.