On September 9, 2024, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC) issued a notice to solicit opinions on the amendments to 33 Customs regulations, and the solicitation will expire on September 30, 2024.
According to a statement from the GACC regarding the amendments, it includes amendments in three aspects:
1) It consolidates the experiences related to customs clearance facilitation reform and proposes to amend the “accept declaration” to the “complete declaration,” etc. For instance, it proposes to amend the “on the date of acceptance of the list declaration” in Article 16 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of the Centralized Declaration of Imported and Exported Goods to “on the date of completion of the list declaration”. The said Article 16 currently provides that “For goods subject to the centralized declaration for customs clearance, the Customs Service calculates taxes and fees in accordance with the tax rate and exchange rate in force on the date of acceptance of the list declaration.”
2) It keeps the descriptions in the relevant regulations in consistency with those in the upcoming Tariff Law, as the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Duties currently cited by many proposed amended regulations will be expired upon the effect of the Tariff Law. Thus, the descriptions used in the Tariff Law (e.g., taxable price [计税价格], taxpayer [纳税人] shall replace the ones used in the current regulations (e.g., tax-paid price [完税价格], person liable to pay taxes [纳税义务人]). For instance, it proposes to amend the “tax-paid price” in Article 9 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Collection of Fees for Delayed Declaration on Imported Goods to “taxable price.” The said Article 16 currently provides that “the daily amount of late payment is 0.5 per thousand of the tax-paid price of the imported goods, with RMB “yuan” as the unit of calculation, and the portion of less than RMB one yuan is exempted from calculation.”
3) It also regulates the description of the taxpayer of imported articles from “owner” to “carrier or addressee”, as well as the expression of the taxation enforcement measures, updates the format of the relevant forms, and improves provisions related to tax disputes and legal liability for some violations, etc., in accordance with the Tariff Law. For instance, it proposes to amend the “Customs shall issue a warning, order a rectification, and may impose a fine of up to 10,000 yuan” in Article 34 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of the Tax Reductions and Exemptions for Imported and Exported Goods to “Customs shall give a warning; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of up to 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.” The said Article 34 currently provides that “If the applicant for duty reduction or exemption under Customs supervision undergoes a change of subject such as separation, merger, change of shareholders, restructuring, etc., or is terminated due to bankruptcy, cancellation, dissolution, restructuring, or other circumstances, and the party concerned fails to report the change or termination of the subject, as well as information about the goods for which duty reduction or exemption has been granted by the competent Customs authority to the original applicant in accordance with the relevant regulations, Customs shall give a warning, order a rectification, and may impose a fine of up to 10,000 yuan”.
The said Tariff Law was passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) on April 26, 2024, and will come into effect on December 1, 2024.
According to the NPC, Customs tariffs are taxes levied on imported and exported goods and incoming articles and are collected by the Customs at the import and export stages, which is an important source of fiscal revenue as well as an important means of implementing macroeconomic control and trade and industrial policies. Thus, it is necessary to legislate to clarify the basic system of taxation, such as the establishment of tax types, the determination of tax rates, the administration of tax collection, etc. In terms of the upcoming Tariff Law, it contains 72 articles in seven chapters and includes main contents, but not limited to: 1) clarifying the authority of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, and the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council in respect of the adjustment of tariff items and rates, as well as the basic system of tariff collection and management; 2) specifying the scope of the tariff items and tariff rates; 3) regulating the setup, adjustment, and implementation of the tariff rates; 4) improving the tariff systems, such as taxable amounts, tax incentives, and tariff collection under special circumstances, etc. 5) clarifying that the administration of customs duty collection can be implemented in a mode that separates the release of goods from the determination of the duty amount, etc.
Once the Tariffs Law becomes effective, it will replace the current Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Duties and become the highest legislation regarding tariffs. As a result, the proposed amendments to the 33 Customs regulations that previously were issued under the said Regulations must be amended accordingly to comply with the upcoming implementation of the Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China on December 1, 2024.
According to a statement from the GACC regarding the amendments, it includes amendments in three aspects:
1) It consolidates the experiences related to customs clearance facilitation reform and proposes to amend the “accept declaration” to the “complete declaration,” etc. For instance, it proposes to amend the “on the date of acceptance of the list declaration” in Article 16 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of the Centralized Declaration of Imported and Exported Goods to “on the date of completion of the list declaration”. The said Article 16 currently provides that “For goods subject to the centralized declaration for customs clearance, the Customs Service calculates taxes and fees in accordance with the tax rate and exchange rate in force on the date of acceptance of the list declaration.”
2) It keeps the descriptions in the relevant regulations in consistency with those in the upcoming Tariff Law, as the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Duties currently cited by many proposed amended regulations will be expired upon the effect of the Tariff Law. Thus, the descriptions used in the Tariff Law (e.g., taxable price [计税价格], taxpayer [纳税人] shall replace the ones used in the current regulations (e.g., tax-paid price [完税价格], person liable to pay taxes [纳税义务人]). For instance, it proposes to amend the “tax-paid price” in Article 9 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Collection of Fees for Delayed Declaration on Imported Goods to “taxable price.” The said Article 16 currently provides that “the daily amount of late payment is 0.5 per thousand of the tax-paid price of the imported goods, with RMB “yuan” as the unit of calculation, and the portion of less than RMB one yuan is exempted from calculation.”
3) It also regulates the description of the taxpayer of imported articles from “owner” to “carrier or addressee”, as well as the expression of the taxation enforcement measures, updates the format of the relevant forms, and improves provisions related to tax disputes and legal liability for some violations, etc., in accordance with the Tariff Law. For instance, it proposes to amend the “Customs shall issue a warning, order a rectification, and may impose a fine of up to 10,000 yuan” in Article 34 of the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Administration of the Tax Reductions and Exemptions for Imported and Exported Goods to “Customs shall give a warning; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of up to 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.” The said Article 34 currently provides that “If the applicant for duty reduction or exemption under Customs supervision undergoes a change of subject such as separation, merger, change of shareholders, restructuring, etc., or is terminated due to bankruptcy, cancellation, dissolution, restructuring, or other circumstances, and the party concerned fails to report the change or termination of the subject, as well as information about the goods for which duty reduction or exemption has been granted by the competent Customs authority to the original applicant in accordance with the relevant regulations, Customs shall give a warning, order a rectification, and may impose a fine of up to 10,000 yuan”.
The said Tariff Law was passed by the National People’s Congress (NPC) on April 26, 2024, and will come into effect on December 1, 2024.
According to the NPC, Customs tariffs are taxes levied on imported and exported goods and incoming articles and are collected by the Customs at the import and export stages, which is an important source of fiscal revenue as well as an important means of implementing macroeconomic control and trade and industrial policies. Thus, it is necessary to legislate to clarify the basic system of taxation, such as the establishment of tax types, the determination of tax rates, the administration of tax collection, etc. In terms of the upcoming Tariff Law, it contains 72 articles in seven chapters and includes main contents, but not limited to: 1) clarifying the authority of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the State Council, and the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council in respect of the adjustment of tariff items and rates, as well as the basic system of tariff collection and management; 2) specifying the scope of the tariff items and tariff rates; 3) regulating the setup, adjustment, and implementation of the tariff rates; 4) improving the tariff systems, such as taxable amounts, tax incentives, and tariff collection under special circumstances, etc. 5) clarifying that the administration of customs duty collection can be implemented in a mode that separates the release of goods from the determination of the duty amount, etc.
Once the Tariffs Law becomes effective, it will replace the current Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Duties and become the highest legislation regarding tariffs. As a result, the proposed amendments to the 33 Customs regulations that previously were issued under the said Regulations must be amended accordingly to comply with the upcoming implementation of the Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China on December 1, 2024.