China decided to revise the Regulation of the People’s Republic of China on Customs Inspection by amending, adding and abolishing some articles, said a document issued by the State Council on July 1.

According to the decision, the time limit of Customs check in Article 2 has now been extended, adding “three years thereafter” after the original “within Customs supervision and control period of bonded goods or imported goods with deducted or exempted duties.” And the former “checked units” in this article is defined as “enterprises and units who are directly related to import and export goods.”

The document listed more than 10 modifications, which include the former Article 6 now being Article 7 and a wording change in the definition: “enterprises and units directly related to import and export activities” to “enterprises and units who are directly related to import and exports goods.” Also, in Article 14 and 16, “approved by Chief of Customs” is revised to “approved by the direct chief of customs or his/her authorized subordinate.”

Three articles are also added, respectively as Article 4, 21 and 32 in the new regulation.

The new Article 4 says Customs can collect information from related institutions, government departments or enterprises for Custom checks, and that Customs should not disclose any confidential information.

Article 21 states that during the Customs check, Customs can entrust professional institutions related to accounting and taxes to make conclusions on cases according to their expert opinions. Meanwhile, professional conclusions made by such institutions, commissioned by the checked units, can be used as references for customs inspection.

The checked units should comply with accounting laws, or be held liable for any fraudulent behaviors, the new Article 32 emphasized.

In addition, the original Article 8 and 32 are now abolished from the regulation.

The revision will be implemented on Oct 1, 2016, said the document.

• [Editor:penny]