Laws of the People's Republic of China

The General Administration of Customs

Circular of the General Administration of Customs Concerning Printing and Distributing the Rules for the Implementation by the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Performing Classified Management of Enterprises

ShuJian [1999] No.345

Rules for the Implementation by the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Performing Classified Management of Enterprises is now announced and shall enter into force as of August 10, 1999.

The General Administration of Customs

August 10, 1999

Rules for the Implementation by the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Performing Classified Management of Enterprises

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

In order to implement Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Performing Classified Management of Enterprises (hereinafter referred to as to Measures), the Detailed Rules for Implementation are hereby formulated.

Article 2

Through the appraisal of enterprises' operation and management, as well as enterprises' abiding by customs laws and regulations, the customs verify and decide degree of enterprises' credit in four management Categories, which are Categories A, B, C and D.

Article 3

The Customs perform dynamic classified management on enterprises and adjust management category of enterprises timely according to enterprises' record of abiding by or violating laws when undertaking operating activities concerning the customs business.

Article 4

The Customs perform classified management on enterprises in light of an open, just and fair principle. The customs of all country shall perform unified appraisal procedures, appraisal standards and managing measures on classified management on enterprises.

Chapter II Division of Obligation

Article 5

The General Administration of Customs shall establish Committee of Classified Management on Enterprises attended by relevant professional departments so as to cooperate with various departments on classified management, deal with major issues and supervise and check the customs on classified management.

The routine work of the committee and the organization of implementation of classified management on enterprises shall be in the charge of specialized competent departments of enterprise management.

Article 6

The Customs directly under the General Administration of Customs establish Committee of Classified Management on Enterprises at customs' level attended by various functional departments with competent heads taking the lead. Their responsibilities are:

1.

Examine and decide primary name list of classified management on enterprises submitted by local departments of enterprise management.

2.

Coordinate with relevant professional departments on classified management on enterprises.

3.

Deal with issues during the process of performing classified management on enterprises.

4.

Supervise the implementation of measures on performing classified management on enterprises.

An office shall be established under the Committee to be in charge of routine work of the Committee. It will be located in the department of enterprise management.

Article 7

Management departments of enterprises directly under the General Administration of Customs shall be charged with responsibility for the classified management of those enterprises by unified and specialized way. Their responsibilities are:

1.

Receive the application from enterprises, examine and verify relevant documents and materials submitted by enterprises.

2.

Collect all information and record offered by various functional departments, submit opinions of primary examination for the management category of enterprises to committee of classified management on enterprises.

3.

Preserve the original materials of appraisal.

4.

Maintain database of enterprises' archives and marks for management category timely.

5.

Inform enterprises about their management category. (Except for category B)

6.

Trace the implementation of measures on classified management on enterprises.

7.

Establish contact system with local departments such as foreign trade and economic cooperation, economic and trade commission, taxation, departments of industry and commerce and foreign exchange administration so as to communicate with each other as well as enjoy information.

Article 8

Various functional departments concerned of the customs shall assign special person to be in charge of contact on classified management on enterprises and offer record and information concerning classified management on enterprises to departments of enterprise management.

Article 9

Classified management on enterprises with the business of the customs should be decided by the customs directly under the General Administration of Customs according to the stipulations of these detailed rules for implementation.

Chapter III Appraisal Standard for Classified Management

Article 10

The Customs shall appraise and decide enterprises that are applicable to be under the management of Category A by abiding by standard stipulated in Article 6 of the Measures strictly.

"The successive two years" called in Article 6 of the Measures refers to the two years before the date when the Customs receive enterprises' application. Enterprises that have violated the customs laws and regulations before two years are not qualified for applying for Category A management if their violating acts still have not been settled on the day when submitting application.

"With normal import and export business" in Section 3 refers to the total import and export of more than US $ 1 million.

Total import and export shall take statistics of the Customs as standard.

Article 11

For enterprises that are not in conformity with conditions stipulated in Article 6 of the Measures and do not act as what are listed in Articles 9 and 10, the customs shall perform management of Category B to them.

Enterprises that have registered for customs clearance for the first time shall be performed management of Category B. If they act as what are listed in Articles 9 and 10, the customs shall perform management of Category C or D to them.

Article 12

For enterprises that have acted as what are listed in Article 9 of the Measures, the customs shall perform management of Category C to them.

The "Violation" in section 1 of Article 9 of the Measures, shall be confirmed when enterprises have been given penalty (except for penalty below 1,000 RMB) by the Customs for their violating acts according to rules of Chapter three of Detailed Rules for the Implementation by the Customs of the People's Republic of China on Administrative Penalty and the penalty decision have come to effect.

"Default of tax payments" in Section 2 refers to normal import and export tax which are not paid over three months, including those overdue taxes that should be paid as well as the penalty given by the customs for their violating acts.

The section is also applicable to those enterprises that have not paid penalty given by the customs over three months, illegal income confiscated and money with equal value of smuggled goods.

"Confused management of accounting book" in Section three is proved by the conclusion in the verification report on enterprises by the customs according to Verification Regulations of the Customs of the People's Republic of China.

"Lose important business certificates" in Section 4 refers to the situation of hiding, destroying or being unable to offer relevant certificates which have made the supervision and management of the customs impossible.

"Make Others Handle the Business of Customs Declaration and Tax Payments in the Name of One's Own" in Section 7 means that by the means of receiving agency fees, enterprises allow their agent enterprises (the supplier) to take customers, commodities, and make customs clearance on their own, or offer its name and qualification for others to handle procedures such as exchange payment, exchange collection and customs clearance in import and export business by any means.

"Have been Given administrative penalties of circulating a notice of criticism and warning by competent departments of foreign trade and economic cooperation" in Section 8 have the meaning as follows: the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation or its authorized provincial competent departments of foreign trade and economic cooperation have given criticism or penalty on enterprises according to Provisional Regulations on Giving Administrative Penalties of Warning, Suspending or Canceling Management Permits for Foreign Trade and International Freight Transport Agency to the Laws-Violating and Smuggling Enterprises (WaiJingMaoZhengFa [1998] No.929).

Article 13

For enterprises that have acted as what are listed in Article 10 of the Measures, the Customs shall perform management of Category D to them.

"Smuggling" as called in Article 10 should be confirmed when the penalty decision by the customs and court verdict come into effect. With Two Years in Section 1 refers to the two years before the customs' examination and verification of category of classified management.

For those enterprises that try to flee from classified management and supervision by the Customs by establishing new enterprises or changing names, the Customs shall perform management of Category D on newly-established enterprises or enterprise with new names if the customs have mastered absolute proof.

Chapter IV Appraisal Procedures

Article 14

The customs should implement open and transparent appraisal procedures for management category of enterprises. Committee of Classified Management on Enterprises at customs' level should hold meeting every three months to examine and decide management category that are applicable to local enterprises by means of passing by majority.

Article 15

The customs should strengthen cooperation with such departments as Commissions of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Economic and Trade Commissions, Taxation. Administration of Foreign Exchange and Bank of China when implementing classified management on enterprises. And above mentioned departments shall recommend to the customs an overseer who will attend relevant appraisal meeting for management category of enterprises as a nonvoting delegate and supervise the appraisal work.

Article 16

Competent customs shall issue application form (see Appendix 1) to the enterprises when receiving application of enterprises on Category A management. After the Customs receive the application, various functional departments should do the following work:

1.

Departments of enterprise management are in charge of examining and verifying documents and materials submitted.

2.

Various functional departments such as Investigation, Check, Verification, Supervision, Tariff, Bonded tax, Examination of Certificates and Statistics are in charge of offering information, materials and opinions such as laws-violating acts or smuggling, default of tax payments of contracts, writing off after verification of processing trade, clearance record of two years after signing contracts on the exemption of taking samples for check for import commodities that should be checked, accounting system of enterprises, warehouse management, annual import and export, error rate of customs clearance.

3.

Departments of enterprise management shall collect information, materials and opinions offered by various functional departments and make primary examination in line with appraisal procedures by computers on classified management on enterprises. Primary opinions shall be submitted to committee of classified management on enterprises at customs' level for appraisal.

Article 17

Competent customs shall copy name list of enterprises of Category A to local departments such as Commissions of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, Economic and Trade Commissions, Taxation, Administration of Foreign Exchange and Bank of China for opinions within 7 working days after the appraisal and these departments shall feedback their opinion within 7 working days. If there are different opinions on management category of enterprises, the customs shall ask them to indicate reasons and offer relevant certifying materials. If there is no feedback in scheduled due time, it will be regarded as no different opinion.

Article 18

After collecting feedback opinions the customs should begin immediately to implement classified management on those enterprises having no different opinion and to examine again those enterprises with different opinions.

For those enterprises of Category A, the customs shall inform them within 30 days form the date of verification. (Sample information letter could be seen in Appendix 2)

Article 19

When enterprises are found to have acted as what is listed in Article 9 or Article 10 of the Measures, various functional departments of the customs shall send copies of penalty information and relevant materials to departments of enterprise management within 7 working days after the penalty information is valid. With these documents, departments of enterprise management shall adjust on management category of relevant enterprises and perform management of Category C or D on them.

Departments of enterprise management have no right not to make adjustment. Those special cases shall be submitted to committee of classified management on enterprises for approval.

Article 20

For those enterprises of Category C or D, the customs should organize implementation within 7 working days from the date of appraisal and inform relevant enterprises within 7 working days. (Sample information letter could been in Appendix 3)

Article 21

In combination with annual examination, departments of enterprise management should carry out verification of management category of enterprises annually and make adjustment in line with practical situation, according to standard stipulated in the Measures. The adjustment should be submitted to committee of classified management on enterprises for approval after the talk.

1.

Enterprises of Category A that have been found done no action as what is listed in Article 9 or Article 10 of the Measures in annual verification but be not in conformity with what is listed from section 2 to 7 of Article 6 of the Measures shall be adjusted to be managed by Category B.

For those enterprises that will not be managed by Category A after adjustment, the customs should inform the relevant enterprises of the cancellation of Category A management within 7 working days from the date of adjustment. (Sample information letter could be seen in Appendix 4)

2.

Enterprises of Category D or C shall be adjusted to be under the management of Category C or D if they are confirmed with relevant conditions of Article 17 of the Measures in annual verification. (Sample information letter could be seen in Appendix 5)

"Within two years" and "within one year" called in Article 17 of the Measures refer to within two years or one year from the date when enterprises are appraised and decided to be under the management of Category D or C.

Article 22

Departments of enterprise management should keep original materials for the appraisal of enterprises in archives for checking when necessary. The original materials should be kept for two years.

Chapter V Administration Measures

Article 23

The Customs should carry out various convenient measures stipulated in Article 12 of the Measures on enterprises of Category A seriously.

Article 24

The Customs shall perform supervision and management on enterprises of Category B according to stipulation in Article 13 of the Measures.

Article 25

The Customs should perform key supervision and management on enterprises of Category C according to stipulation in Article 14 of the Measures.

Key Check in Section 4 should be handled according to Circular of the General Administration of Customs on Performing Quantization Standard of Check, Examination, and Writing Off after Verification on the Customs' Supervision on Pilot (ShuJian [1998] No.247) and Circular of the General Administration of Customs on Printing and Distributing Regulations of Commodities In or Out Territory by the Customs (ShuJian [1999] No.270)

"Customs declaration and keeping on record will not be handled in other places" in section 5 means that enterprises of Category C should declare customs by the agents such as specialized enterprises of customs clearance in the places where they keep on record or agent enterprises of customs clearance that accept for carriage of their goods instead of declaring customs in other places on their own.

Article 26

The Customs should adopt measures for supervision and control on enterprises of Category D according to Article 15 of the Measures.

For "Suspend or Cancel Qualification of Customs" clearance in section 3 or 4 of the Measures, the customs should draw up and issue penalty decision according to regulations in the process of implementation.

Article 27

If any enterprise that handle Customs clearance in other places has acted as what is listed in Articles 9 and 10 of the Measures in places where they keep on record, local Customs should send copies of penalty decision and relevant materials to the customs where enterprises made registration within 7 working days after the penalty is valid. The customs where enterprises made registration shall make adjustment on management category of enterprises.

Article 28

If enterprises of other places are found to have acted as what is listed in Article 9 and 10 of the Measures, local customs should send copies of penalty and relevant materials to the customs where enterprises made registration within 7 working days after the penalty decision is valid. The Customs where enterprises made registration shall make adjustment on management category of enterprises.

Chapter VI Appraisal and Implementation of Classified Management on Enterprises of Processing Trade

Article 29

Enterprises of processing trade that have been appraised to be under management of Category A and are confirmed with one of the following conditions, the customs shall not perform Deposit Account System:

1.

Carry out supervision by working staffs sent by the customs to stay at factories or manage bonded factories with competent customs by on line.

2.

Undertake processing trade of special industries such as aircraft, ships.

3.

Annual total import and export of enterprises is over US $ 30 million (US $ 10 million for export of self-operated enterprises) or annual export of processing trade is or is over US $ 10 million.

Article 30

Enterprises of processing trade of Category B, except for those processing trade of limited commodities, continue to carry out current shadow deposit account system.

Article 31

When enterprises of processing trade of Category C are handling registration and keeping on record, the customs shall guarantee fee of equal value of import tariff or import value-added tariff that should be paid when keep on record of import materials.

"Handle procedures of verification and writing off of processing trade without following the regulations" in Section 5 of Article 9 of the Measures means that unite of processing trade (Enterprises of processing trade in Provinces Guangdong and Fujian that operate foreign assembled processing business in the name of service company of foreign assembled processing may be included) still do not handle procedures of writing off after verification without any proper reasons after being urged by the customs since the time limited for writing off after verification regulated by the customs is exceeded.

Article 32

For enterprises of processing trade of Category D, the customs shall not handle new keeping on record for contracts of processing trade.

Article 33

When units of processing trade and agent enterprises of processing trade are not under the same management category, the customs shall adopt corresponding supervision measures in the order of A, B, C and D.

Operation units should not entrust manufactures of Category D in processing.

Chapter VII Submission of Enterprises' Name List

Article 34

Departments of enterprise management should type management category of enterprises in data base of the archives and inform various executive departments for implementation within 7 working days from the date of the appraisal or the adjustment are made.

Article 35

Management category of enterprises appraised by various customs directly under the General Administration of Customs shall be transmitted to the General Administration of Customs through data base of the archives of enterprises every day. Various customs may search management category of enterprises in other places through "on-line search system for enterprises kept on record in other places".

The General Administration of Customs will feedback increasing files on management category of enterprises to various customs every day. Various customs shall make check and implementation according to procedures regulated after printing adjustment of management category of enterprises in other places that have kept on record in local customs.

Article 36

After making appraisal or adjustment of management category of enterprises, the customs where enterprises make registration shall circulate notice to the customs where enterprises keep on record within 7 working days after handling procedures of keeping on record for enterprises in other places. (Sample circulation could be seen in Appendix 6)

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 37

When operation units, agent enterprises of customs clearance and transportation enterprises are not under the same management category, the Customs should adopt supervision measures.

Article 38

The General Administration of Customs is responsible for interpretation of these Rules.

Article 39

These Rules shall enter into force as of August 10, 1999.

Appendix (omitted)