Laws of the People's Republic of China

General Administration of Customs

Order of the General Administration of Customs

No. 140 [2005]

The Measures for Administration of the Sectoral Standards of the Customs of the Peoples Republic of China (for Trial Implementation), which were adopted at the executive meeting of the General Administration of Customs on December 8, 2005, are hereby promulgated and shall come into force as of February 1, 2006.

Director Mou Xinsheng

December 29, 2005

Measures for Administration of the Sectoral Standards of the Customs of the Peoples Republic of China

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

With a view to intensifying the management of sectoral standards of the customs and establishing a scientific and complete system of customs standards, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the Customs Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Standardization Law of the Peoples Republic of China and other relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 2

For the uniform regulation of the business and information technology requirements the sectoral standards of the customs are standards formulated within the customs sector.

Article 3

The sectoral standards of the customs are classified into customs business standards and customs information technology standards (see Annex 1).

The customs business standards refer to the regulatory operating procedures and quantitative management measures concerned to all businesses of the customs as well as the technological means and requirements adopted therefore, which mainly include the documentary formats, code standards, test indicators, business norms and other standards.

The customs information technology standards refer to the norms of the use and management of all information resources of the customs, which mainly include the standards on the information and network technologies, communication technologies, and information system safety, etc.

Article 4

The sectoral standards code of the customs shall consist of the code of sectoral standards of customs , year code and standard sequential number . The code of the sectoral standards of the customs is HS.

Article 5

The formulation of the sectoral standards of the customs should be in line with the pertinent laws and administrative regulations concerning the work of the customs as well as the work of standardization, and should be accorded with the principle of being scientific, reasonable and feasible.

The customs shall execute the compulsory national standards and actively adopt the corresponding international standards and recommended national standards.

The sectoral standards of the customs should be in harmony with other sectoral standards.

Chapter II Management of Standards

Article 6

The Standardization Commission of the General Administration of Customs shall be the supreme decision-making management institution for the sectoral standards of the customs, shall undertake the following duties:

(1)

To examine and approve the mid-term and long-term development plan on the sectoral standardization work of the customs;

(2)

To examine and approve the fundamental and comprehensive sectoral standards of customs; and

(3)

To coordinate and solve the serious problems occurring in the work relating to the sectoral standards of customs.

Article 7

The department of legal affairs of the General Administration of Customs shall be the competent department for the sectoral standards of customs.

It shall be responsible for the management of the sectoral standards of customs and undertake the following duties:

(1)

To formulate and organize the implementation of the administrative measures on the sectoral standards of the customs and the relevant management system;

(2)

To organize and formulate the planning and annual plans relating to the woks of the sectoral standards of customs, to establish and perfect the system of sectoral standards of customs;

(3)

To organize and examine the sectoral standards of customs;

(4)

To examine, approve, and issue the sectoral standards of customs and report to the National Standardization Administrative Department for archival purposes;

(5)

To organize the implementation of sectoral standards of customs and offer the guidance , the supervise and the inspection to the implementation thereof, and coordinate and solve the relevant problems relating to the standardization work;

(6)

To organize the reexamine of the sectoral standards of customs; and

(7)

To organize the training, publicizing and international intercourse of the sectoral standards of customs.

The Scientific and Technological Department of the General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the formulation, examination, implementation and training on the customs information technology standards in the sectoral standards of customs.

Article 8

Each department of the General Administration of Customs shall undertake the following functions:

(1)

To propose the project establish application on sectoral standards of customs within the business scope of the department;

(2)

To draft sectoral standards of customs within the business scope of the department; and

(3)

To take charge of the real implementation, supervision and inspection of the sectoral standards of customs within the business scope of the department.

Article 9

The customs office directly under the General Administration of Customs shall undertake the following functions:

(1)

To propose the demand for formulating the sectoral standards of customs;

(2)

To participate in the formulation of sectoral standards of customs upon entrustment by the General Administration of Customs; and

(3)

To take charge of the implementation, supervision and inspection of the sectoral standards of customs within the jurisdiction of the customs office.

Chapter III Projects Establishment of Sectoral Standards of Customs

Article10

The work of Sectoral Standards of Customs. Shall adopt the annual project establishment system The period from March 1 of each year to the last day of February of the next year shall be one working year of standardization. Prior to the start of each new working year, each department of the General Administration of Customs shall, submit an application for project establishing of formulating or amending of the sectoral standards of customs to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs (See Annex 2). Such application shall contain the contents, project person-in-charge, responsible persons, time to finish the draft, and other details of the standards to be established.

Article 11

The legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for organizing the examination of the received applications for the establishment of projects of sectoral standards of customs , determining the projects of sectoral standards of customs within the current year and the department responsible for drafting, and drafting the annual plan of standards projects of the General Administration of Customs. After deliberation and approval by the Standardization Commission of the General Administration of Customs, the annual work plan shall be announced (See Annex 3) in March of each year. During the course of determining the annual work plan, the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall fully communicate and coordinate with the departments applying for establishing the projects of sectoral standards of customs.

Article 12

An application for establishing a project of formulating or amending the sectoral standards of customs shall meet the following requirements:

(1)

To meet the actual needs in the work of customs;

(2)

There is no national standard or sectoral standard satisfying the corresponding needs, or the prevailing sectoral standards should be revised; and

(3)

To belongs the management scope of sectoral standards system of customs.

Article 13

The annual plan on the sectoral standards of customs shall be executed strictly. If it is really necessary to supplement any project during the midyear for any special reason, and if the project is qualified upon examination by the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs and is approved by the leader in charge of the General Administration of Customs, it may be integrated into the annual plan of sectoral standards project.

Article 14

With regard to the sectoral standards of customs listed into the annual plan on sectoral standards, the drafting department shall finish the draft for approval inside the working year and shall submit it to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs for examination and approval. In the case of failure to finish the project within the working year for any special reason, it may file a written application to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs to carry it over to the next working year.

Chapter IV The Formulation, Revision, Announcement and Implementation of Sectoral Standards of Customs

Article 15

According to the arrangement of the annual plan on the projects of standards, each department of the General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for organizing work to draft out the sectoral standards of customs or amendments to the sectoral standards of customs.

Article 16

The sectoral standards of customs shall comply with the national standards GB/T1 in the Guiding Rules of Standardization.

Article 17

The department responsible for drafting the sectoral standards of customs shall form a standards drafting team , and the team members shall have the professional knowledge on law, the relevant specialty, technology and standardization. The drafting team shall be responsible for draft out the standards, propose a draft for consulting opinions, explanation about the formulation of or amendments the standards. The drafting department shall be responsible for sending the draft of standards for consulting opinions to the relevant departments and units to consult their opinions and shall simultaneously formulate a summary report of opinions (See Annex 4). If the standards item came down to the rights and obligations of the relative persons on customs administration, the opinions of the relative persons on customs administration shall be consulted in a proper manner during the course of drafting.

Article 18

After the drafting department finishes the drafting work, it shall timely submit the draft for examination, explanations about the formulation of or amendments to the standards, summary of the meeting for the examination of standards, summary of opinions and other pertinent annexes to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs for examination.

Article 19

The legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall organize an examination team to examine the draft of sectoral standards . The members of the examination team for sectoral standards of customs shall include legal experts, professionals, technicians with qualified senior professional post , and managers who are familiar with the standardization work.

Article 20

The examination to the sectoral standards of customs shall proceed by way of examination meeting. The number of the members attending the examination meeting shall not be less than 7. Discussions shall be made fully at the examination meeting. If it is necessary to take a vote, it shall not be deemed adopted unless it is agreed upon by 3/4 of the members attending the meeting. A summary of the examination meeting result shall be made, which shall faithfully state the opinions of all parties.

Article 21

The drafting department shall put the drafted sectoral standards of customs examined by the examination team in order for approval and timely submit it and the summary of the examination meeting to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Taxation.

Article 22

The legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the examination and approval of the sectoral standards of customs. The core standards concerned the fundamental and overall situation shall first be examined and verified by the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs, and then be submitted to the Standardization Commission of the General Administration of Customs for approval. During the course of examination and verification, if the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs believes that it is necessary to make important revisions or there is any sharp divergence of opinions, it shall return the draft to the drafting department to seek the opinions again and to make the revisions .

Article 23

During the course of formulating the sectoral standards of customs, the role of the sectoral associations, scientific and research institutions and academic groups shall be brought into full play action and opinions of all parties shall be fully sought.

Article 24

The authorized sectoral standards of customs by examination and approval shall be numbered uniformly by the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs and shall be announced in the form of pronunciamento of the General Administration of Customs.

Article 25

The legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall, within 30 days after the announcement of sectoral standards of customs, submit the already announced sectoral standards of customs, the explanations on the formulation or revision along with the pronunciamento documents, to the competent department of national standardization for archival purposes.

Article 26

The sectoral standards of customs shall be strictly executed after they are announced. All departments of the General Administration of Customs and all customs offices directly under the General Administration of Customs shall timely report the problems they find when implementing the standards. to the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 27

After the implementation of the sectoral standards of customs, the legal affairs department of the General Administration of Customs shall organize the drafting department to review them in proper time. according to the changes of business and development of scientific technologies. Usually the review cycle shall not be exceeded 5 years .

Article 28

Under any of the following circumstances, the relevant sectoral standards of customs shall be abolished:

(1)

The applicable environment or conditions for the standards does/do not exist any longer;

(2)

The corresponding national standards or new sectoral standards have already been promulgated;

(3)

The sectoral standards of customs are contrary to any newly promulgated law, regulation or rules; or

(4)

Any other circumstance under which the sectoral standards of customs shall be revised or abolished.

Article 29

The power to interpret these Measures shall remain with the General Administration of Customs.

Article 30

These Measures shall come into force as of February 1, 2006.