Announcement No. 91 [2020] of the General Administration of Customs—Announcement on Further Advancin

Announcement No. 91 [2020] of the General Administration of Customs—Announcement on Further Advancing the Paperless Supervision of Entry and Exit of Conveyances

For the purpose of effectively implementing the requirements for the reform of “simplifying procedures, decentralizing powers, combining decentralization with appropriate control, and optimizing services,” optimizing the business environment at ports, and promoting logistics facilitation, the General Administration of Customs (“GACC”) has decided to further promote the paperless supervision of entry and exit of conveyances, and the persons in charge of conveyances entering or leaving China and the service providers of such conveyances may submit electronic data to the Customs for handling of relevant formalities. The relevant matters are hereby announced as follows:

1. Filing and related procedures

Persons in charge and companies of inbound and outbound transportation means who apply for enterprise and transportation means filing, filing changes, filing withdrawal, and the annual inspection and vehicle inspection procedures for road freight and road vehicles between Hong Kong and Macao, can submit electronic data to the customs without submitting the filing registration form, filing modification form, annual review report, vehicle inspection record form, temporary entry vehicle inspection declaration form and other paper documents as well as related accompanying documents.

The customs will electronically report the results to the person in charge and companies of inbound and outbound transportation vehicles, and will no longer issue paper documents such as "The Book of Customs Supervision on the Entry and Exit of Vessels", " The Book of Customs Supervision on the Domestic operation of vessels under Chinese nationality," "The Registration form for Small Vessels to and from Hong Kong and Macau," "The Book of Customs Supervision on the Entry and Exit of Small Vessels to and from Hong Kong and Macau," “The Registration form for Enterprises of Cargo Transportation to and from Hong Kong and Macau” and “ "The Book of Supervision on the Entry and Exit of Vehicles to and from Hong Kong and Macau."

2. Procedures related to entry and exit

The person in charge and companies of inbound and outbound transportation means who apply for entry and exit of continuing transportation as well as material addition/unloading/allocation, coastal empty container transportation, concurrent transportation vehicle conversion, transportation tool customs clearance, etc. can submit electronic data to the customs without submitting paper documents and related accompanying documents. There is also no need to submit paper certificates for inspection in below situations:

(1) When the person in charge of the inbound and outbound transportation means apply for continuing domestic transportation, the customs shall report the results electronically and no longer issue paper seals.

(2) When inbound and outbound transportation means are subject to boarding inspection, the customs shall send electronically a notice of boarding inspection to the person in charge of the means of transport.

3. Other

If the electronic data cannot be transmitted normally due to the need of customs supervision or system failure or other reasons, the person in charge and the companies of the inbound and outbound transportation means shall provide paper documents.

This announcement will take effect on December 1, 2020.

General Administration of Customs

Aug. 11, 2020