Measures of Customs for Supervision and Control of the Bonded Areas

Director General of the General Administration of Customs, Qianguan Ling

August 1, 1997

Chapter I    General Provisions

Article 1 These measures are formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law and other relevant laws with a view to strengthening and perfecting customs supervision and control of the bonded areas and promoting sound development of the bonded areas.

Article 2 Establishment of the bonded areas within the territory of the People’s Republic of China must be subjected to the approval of the State Council.

Article 3 The bonded areas are specially designated areas under customs supervision and control. The customs exercise supervision and control over goods, transportation vehicles and articles carried by individuals entering or leaving the bonded areas pursuant to these Measures. Isolation facilities meeting the requirements for customs supervision and control should be installed between the bonded areas and other areas within the territory of the People's Republic of China(hereinafter referred to as non-bonded areas).

Article 4 Only administrative organs for the bonded areas and enterprises are established in the bonded areas. No persons other than the security guards shall reside in the bonded areas.

Article 5  Enterprises established in the bonded areas(hereinafter referred to as in-area enterprises) should complete the formalities of registration at the customs.

In-area enterprises, pursuant to the provisions of the relevant laws and regulations of the State, keep ledgers, compile statements and tables, do bookkeeping and carry out accounting and settlement on legal and effective vouchers and record such information as the stocks, transfers, transshipment, sales, processing, utilization and damages and consumption of goods and articles entering or leaving the bonded areas.

Article 6  The bonded areas practise the customs auditing system.

In-area enterprises should hook up with the electronic computer network of the customs and carry out electronic data exchange.

Article 7 The customs are empowered to conduct inspections and examinations of the goods, articles, transportation vehicles and personnel entering or leaving the bonded areas as well as related sites in the areas pursuant to the provisions of the Customs Law.

Article 8  For goods and articles, the import and export of which are prohibited by the State must not enter or leave the bonded areas.

Chapter II    Supervision and Control of Entry and Exit Goods Between the Bonded Areas and Beyond-the-boundary Areas

Article 9 Customs exercises convenient and effective supervision and control over entry and exit goods between the bonded areas and the beyond-the-boundary areas.

Article 10  Consignees, consignors or their agents shall report to the customs for the record on entry and exit goods between the bonded areas and the beyond-the-boundary areas.

Article 11  No import-export quota and license control shall be exercised other than passive export quota control in respect of entry and exit goods between the bonded areas and the beyond-the-boundary areas.

Article 12  Import duty and import link taxes of goods entering the bonded areas from places beyond the boundaries, unless otherwise provided for in laws and regulations, shall be handled in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) Machinery, equipment and other capital goods needed for in-area construction projects of infrastructure for production shall be exempted from taxation;

(2) Production and management equipment and rational quantity of office items for their own use by in-area enterprises as well as their required parts and components for maintenance, fuels for production, materials and equipment required for the construction of workshops for production and warehouse facilities shall be exempted from taxation;

(3) Rational quantity of management equipment and office items as well as the required parts and components for maintenance for their own use by the administrative organs of the bonded areas shall be exempted from taxation;

(4) Raw materials, parts, components and packaging materials required for the processing of export products by in-area enterprises shall be bonded.

Goods or articles other than those prescribed in sections (1) to (4) in the preceding paragraph entering the bonded areas shall be taxed in accordance with law.

Goods for transshipment and goods stored in the bonded areas shall be put under control as bonded goods.

Chapter III   Supervision and Control of Entry and Exit Goods Between the Bonded Areas and the Non-bonded Areas

Article 13  Formalities for import goods shall be completed for goods from the bonded areas entering non-bonded areas; formalities for export goods shall be completed for goods from non-bonded areas entering the bonded areas and export tax refund shall be processed in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State.

The customs exercise supervision and control over entry and exit goods between the bonded areas and the non-bonded areas pursuant to the provisions of the State related to import-export control.

Article 14  For machinery, equipment, capital goods and articles entering the bonded areas from the non-bonded areas for in-area use, user units should submit lists of the above-mentioned goods or articles which will be cleared upon customs inspection.

Goods or articles of the preceding paragraph which have already paid import duty and import linked tax shall not be refunded.

Article 15  For goods of the bonded areas to be imported and exported from the ports of non-bonded areas or goods of one bonded area to be shipped to another bonded area, written applications should be submitted to customs in advance and these goods will be handled in accordance with customs transfer shipment and relevant provisions upon the approval of customs.

Chapter IV    Supervision and Control over Goods in the Bonded Areas

Article 16  Goods in the bonded areas can be transferred and diverted among in-area enterprises; the interested parties should report to the customs on matters relating to transfers and diversions for the record.

Article 17 Such simple processing as classification, sorting, painting and pasting of marks and change in packaging forms of transit goods in the bonded areas can be carried out in in-area warehouses or other in-area sites.

Article 18  When in-area enterprises hold exhibitions and displays of foreign commodities and commodities of the non-bonded areas in the bonded areas, the displayed commodities should be subjected to customs supervision and control.

Chapter V    Control of the Processing Trade Goods in the Bonded Areas

Article 19  In-area processors should complete the formalities at the customs for their required raw materials and components entering or leaving the bonded areas for the record.

Article 20  Production of export products under passive quota control by in-area processors should be subjected to the approval of the competent department under the State Council in advance.

Article 21  Formalities should be completed at the customs in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State for the shipment out of the country of the finished products and the leftover bits and pieces of industrial materials produced in the process of processing by in-area processors; they shall be exempted from export duty unless otherwise provided for in laws and regulations.

Shipment by in-area processors of in-area processed finished products, substandard products or the leftover bits and pieces of industrial materials produced in the process of processing to non-bonded areas should go through formalities of import customs declaration at the customs in accordance with the relevant provisions of the State and pay taxes according to law.

Article 22  For finished products processed entirely with materials and components shipped in from abroad by in-area processors to be sold in non-bonded areas, the customs shall levy tax as import finished products.

For processed finished products containing materials and components shipped in from abroad to be sold in non-bonded areas, the customs shall levy tax in accordance with their contained shipped-in materials and components; for untruthful declarations with regard to item names, quantity and value of the shipped-in materials and components from abroad, the customs shall levy taxes as import finished products.

Article 23  In-area processors entrusting enterprises in non-bonded areas or accepting the entrustment of the enterprises in non-bonded areas for processing business should gain the approval of the customs in advance and meet the following conditions:

(1) They have in-area production sites which have already formally conducted processing business;

(2) Main working procedure of the processing business entrusted to enterprises in non-bonded areas should be carried out in the bonded areas;

(3) The duration of entrusting enterprises in non-bonded areas with processing business shall be six months; when extension becomes necessary under extraordinary circumstances, application for extension should be submitted to the customs and the duration of extension shall be six months. Products should be shipped back to the bonded areas upon completion of processing in non-bonded areas; when it becomes necessary to export the products direct from the non-bonded areas, formalities for verification and deduction should be completed at the customs;

(4) In-area processors taking orders of entrusted processing from enterprises in non-bonded areas should complete the formalities for the materials and components for entrusted processing at the customs for the record, separate ledgers of the materials, components and products of entrusted processing and those of the in-area enterprises should be kept and they should be used separately. Products upon completion of processing should be shipped back to the enterprises in the non-bonded areas, and the in-area processors shall apply to the customs for writing off the case.

Article 24  The   The customs do not practise bank deposit account system for processing trade for the processing businesses with imported materials and with customers' materials conducted by in-area processors.

When the processing business is entrusted to enterprises in non-bonded areas, the enterprises in the non-bonded areas shall go through the formalities of contract registration for the record and follow the bank deposit account system.