GACC Announcement No.83, 2014 on Bonded Goods Transfer between Special Customs-Control Areas

Upon State Council Notice (GuoFa [2012] No.58) to facilitate the transference of bonded goods between/among Special Customs-Control Areas, hereby announced are relevant matters with the administration over this kind of transference in accordance with the Customs Law of the P. R. China:

1. The transference of bonded goods between Special Customs-Control Areas may comply with the regulations on transference between Customs districts and, where applicable, may also comply with the modes described below.

2. The transference between Special Customs-Control Areas refers to the business operation in which an enterprise within a Special Customs-Control Area (as the transferor) transfers its bonded goods to an enterprise within another Special Customs-Control Area (as the transferee).

3. The enterprises concerned in the transference may undertake customs formalities in a manner of "dispatch in batches and declare all together”; the receipt/dispatch of goods may be through enterprise self-managed transportation or the manner as transference between Customs districts.

4. The enterprises shall be networked with the Customs, and shall keep electronic original accounts for their bonded goods, and shall regularly declare the information of their transference, receipts/dispatches of goods, customs declaration forms, etc. through information management system.

5. The enterprises shall, in the following processes, submit to local Customs relevant Transference Declaration Form to go through the registration formalities:

(1) The transferee shall complete the inward-transference information in the Transference Declaration Form and then declare to the Customs at the place of inward-transference.

(2) Upon the confirmation by the Customs of inward-transference, the transferor shall complete the outward-transference information in the Transference Declaration Form and then declare to the Customs at the place of outward-transference for confirmation thereof.

(3) The Transference Declaration Form shall enter into force upon the confirmation by the Customs of outward-transference. The enterprises may start receipt/dispatch of goods and other real formalities upon Customs-confirmed Transference Declaration Form.

6. The Transference Declaration Form shall comply with the following requirements:

(1) One Transference Declaration Form shall correspond to one electronic account of the transferor and that of the transferee;

(2) The Transference Declaration Form shall be consistent with transferor's and transferee's electronic accounts in terms of bonded goods description, HS Code and measure unit, etc.

(3) The declared measure units and quantity shall be respectively consistent between the transferor and the transferee; where the declared measure unit is not consistent, the statutory quantity shall be consistent between them.

(4) The first 8 digits of an HS Code shall be consistent between the transferor and the transferee.
(5) The Transference Declaration Form is usually valid for half a year, at most for one year; if it is expired, goods therein shall not be dispatched.
(6) The Transference Declaration Form will be registered with the transferee's supervisory Customs authority in the form of "S”+ Customs code (4-digit) + year (2-digit) + sequential number (5-digit).
(7) Upon the registration of the Transference Declaration Form, the registered goods therein shall not be altered.

7. Under any of the following circumstances, the Customs will reject the Transference Declaration Form from an enterprise:
(1) The enterprise is incompliant with Customs supervisory requirements;
(2) The enterprise is suspected of smuggling or other violations without settlement;
(3) The enterprise fails to declare or receive/dispatch goods as per regulations;
(4) The enterprise's electronic account is suspended by the Customs;
(5) Other incompliance.

8. After the registration of the Transference Declaration Form, the enterprise shall undertake real receipt/dispatch of goods as stipulated in the Form on the basis of truthful declaration to the Customs.
(1) The transferor shall apply to its supervisory Customs for outward-transference approval.
(2) The transferee shall apply to its supervisory Customs for inward-transference approval.

9. Under Customs supervision, the bonded goods in transference may be transported by the enterprises themselves on their own means of transport that are subject to Customs regulations.

10. Where the transfer between Customs Districts is applicable to the transference receipt/dispatch of goods, the enterprise shall use Customs-supervised means of transport with Customs seals.

11. Within 30 days upon real receipt/dispatch of goods, the transferor and the transferee shall undertake all customs-declaration formalities with their respective supervisory Customs authorities in the order of "the inward before the outward”. The declaration data of the transferor and the transferee shall be mutually corresponding. The centralized declaration formalities shall not be undertaken across different years.

12. Upon real receipt/dispatch of goods, the enterprise shall undertake transference declaration formalities with the Customs as per the following requirements:
(1) The enterprise shall declare in batches or in combination of all its receipts of goods;
(2) In registration list, the enterprise shall truthfully accurately declare the transferred goods' name, HS Code, specification, quantity, price, etc.
One inward-transference list shall be corresponding to one outward-transference list with inter-consistency.
In an outward-transference list, the "associated form no."shall be the number of corresponding inward-transference list.
The "associated registration"records of the two lists shall be mutually corresponding: the inward list's "associated registration"shall be the account number of the transferor, while the outward list's "associated registration"shall be the account number of the transferee.
Auxiliary document's code shall be "K"(for transference for further processing).
The mode of transport shall be "other"(code "9”).
Regarding the processing trade with client-supplied materials, the enterprise supervision mode shall be "transference for further processing with client-supplied materials"(code "0255”); regarding the processing trade with imported materials, the enterprise supervision mode shall be "transference for further processing with imported materials"(code "0654”).
The country/region concerned shall be provided as "China"(code "142”).
(3) Upon declaration in batches or in combination of multiple batches, the declared quantity shall be determined as per real quantity of receipts/dispatches by the transferee and the transferor. Where the real receipt is less than the real dispatch, the declaration shall adopt the real receipt quantity. Where the real receipt is more than the real dispatch, the declaration shall adopt the real dispatch quantity.
(4) Where the transferring enterprises are involved in untrue declaration and other violations, the Customs will impose penalty or guarantee money before permitting them to undertake declaration formalities.
(5) Upon electronic account verification and writing-off, the registration lists of the transferor and the transferee shall be mutually corresponding; otherwise the Customs will not conduct the verification and writing-off.

13. In the event of return or replacement due to goods defects, the transferee and the transferor shall go through relevant formalities with their supervisory Customs authorities.

14. The bonded goods mentioned herein refer to the goods placed in any Special Customs-Control Areas for storage, processing and assembly, which have entered before taxation formalities or not exited yet after export formalities, upon Customs approval.

General Administration of Customs of China (GACC)