China News Service, July 22. Recently, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Opinions on Further Optimizing the Business Environment and Better Serving Market Entities" (hereinafter referred to as the "Implementation Opinions"). The State Council Information Office held a regular briefing on the State Council’s policies on the 22nd to introduce the "Implementation Opinions". Regarding the work done by the customs in promoting customs clearance and further improving the efficiency of import and export customs clearance, Dang Yingjie, head of the National Port Management Office of the General Administration of Customs, introduced from four aspects.
One is to vigorously reduce the overall customs clearance time for import and export of goods. Promoting the "advance declaration" of imported and exported goods, starting from January 1, 2020, the customs has promoted and implemented the pilot reform of the "two-step declaration" of imported goods nationwide. As of June 30, the number of enterprises adopting the "two-step declaration" has reached 4,321, with an average customs clearance time of 28 hours, which is less than the average overall customs clearance time. In some coastal ports such as Tianjin, Shenzhen and other qualifying regulatory areas, “direct delivery by ship” for imported goods and “direct shipment on arrival” for export goods will be piloted.
At the same time, actively carry out tariff guarantee insurance reform. Since the launch of this pilot reform in November 2018, a total of 3,185 companies have participated so far. Compared with the initial stage of the pilot program, the current percentage of tariff guarantee insurance in the guarantee clearance declaration form has increased by 28%, which reduces corporate guarantee costs while ensuring tax security, while also improving customs clearance efficiency.
Continuously optimize the customs clearance process for bulk commodities. Implementation of the inspection and supervision model reform of "prior inspection and later inspection" for imported iron ore and other low-risk mineral products, and adjust the quality inspection of imported cotton and iron ore from batch-by-batch laboratory testing to the implementation of enterprise applications. Take cotton as an example. After the implementation of the new measures, the average customs clearance time has been reduced to half a day.
Strengthen the cooperation with overseas customs for mutual recognition of certified business operators (AEO). At present, China Customs has signed AEO mutual recognition cooperation agreements with 42 countries and regions in 15 economies, including 18 countries along the “Belt and Road” route. The number of mutually recognized countries and regions ranks first in the world. The survey results show that 80% of companies feel that the speed of customs clearance abroad has been accelerated, more than 50% of companies have customs clearance within 5 hours, and more than 70% of companies have reduced their inspection rates at foreign customs.
Dang Yingjie pointed out that since the beginning of this year, in response to the global outbreak of the new crown pneumonia, the customs has strengthened the monitoring of port clearance time for import and export goods to minimize the impact of the epidemic on the overall customs clearance time. "In June, we monitored that the overall customs clearance time for imports across the country was 39.66 hours, and the overall customs clearance time for exports was 2.28 hours, which were 59% and 81% lower than in 2017," she said.
The second is to focus on improving the informatization and intelligence level of customs clearance at ports; promote a new generation of electronic payment systems for taxes and fees, and realize the instant payment of taxes and fees, and the entire process of tax bill circulation without paper. Support the development and comprehensive promotion of the online application of the enterprise self-printing function of the certificate of origin and the "Customs Special Payment Form".
At present, the number of FTA electronic networks has reached 12, and the self-printing certificate of origin has been expanded to 16, and the self-printing rate has increased from 36% in 2019 to the current 55.7%. Expand the online verification of inspection and quarantine electronic certificates with foreign official institutions, and implement paperless certificates with the Netherlands and other qualified countries. Promote the paperless exchange of ocean bills of lading for bills of lading, and enterprises no longer submit paper ocean bills of lading or bill of lading during customs declaration, reducing the link and time of document circulation.
The third is to vigorously streamline the import and export link supervision certificates and accompanying documents. In conjunction with relevant national departments, the original 86 types of regulatory documents in the import and export process have been streamlined to the current 44 types. Except for 4 types that cannot be connected due to security and confidentiality, the other 40 types of regulatory documents have all achieved online verification. Fully promote electronic customs declaration entrustment and exempt enterprises from submitting invoices, packing lists and other accompanying documents in the import and export declaration process. For those who need to verify paper materials for business, it is allowed to submit electronic documents first and then supplement paper materials.
118 import licenses for mechanical and electrical products have been cancelled. For imported auto parts and accessories that involve 3C certification, the certification issued by the certification body is directly adopted, and sampling testing is no longer implemented in principle. Everyone knows that the China-Europe Express Express has developed very fast recently. The warehouse receipts of eligible China-Europe Express Express allow enterprises to merge and declare. Taking Manzhouli Customs as an example, as of June 30, the customs has processed 2,695 inbound warehouse receipts and 2,175 in outbound warehouse receipts. According to preliminary estimates, it can reduce the number of enterprise declarations by nearly 40%.
The fourth is to coordinate the prevention and control of the epidemic and promote the steady growth of foreign trade. Actively respond to the impact of the epidemic, successively introduced 10 measures to stabilize foreign trade growth, formulated a package of policy measures such as 50 specific task lists, simplified customs clearance procedures, reduced enterprise customs clearance costs and domestic sales costs, eased business difficulties, and supported enterprises in resuming work and production , To ensure the smooth operation of the foreign trade industry chain and supply chain.
Dang Yingjie said that in the next step, the General Administration of Customs will work together with relevant port departments to coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, continue to take effective measures, focus on the concerns of market players, rely on reforms to further improve the efficiency of import and export customs clearance, and strive to crack corporate customs clearance. The “blocking points” and “pain points” encountered in China will better serve market players, further reduce burdens and increase efficiency for enterprises, and enhance their endogenous motivation and vitality.