Item under administrative license: Approval of establishment of supervised and bonded warehouses for export goods
Contents licensed:
The Customs permit enterprises to involve in activities concerning establishment of export supervised warehouse and bonded warehouse.
Export supervised warehouse refers to customs-specific supervised warehouse storing goods having gone through customs export procedures, conducting bonded logistics distribution and providing marketable value-added services. It includes export distribution warehouse (which stores exports for practical departure) and warehouse for domestic transfer (which stores exports for domestic transfer).
Bonded warehouse refers to those specific to storage of bonded goods and other goods not having gone through customs procedures. It includes public bonded warehouse, self-use bonded warehouse and dedicated bonded warehouse (e.g. bonded warehouse for liquid hazardous articles, bonded warehouse for materials, bonded warehouse for consignment sales and maintenance, etc.).
Basis for establishment:
Article 32 of the customs Law of the People’s Republic of China: Anyone who wishes to engage in storing, processing, assembling, exhibiting, transporting or consigning bonded goods or running duty free shops shall meet the requirements for customs control and obtain approval from and register with the customs.
Basis for implementation:
1. Administrative License Law of the People’s Republic of China
2. Measures of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on Implementing the Administrative License Law of the People’s Republic of China (Decree No. 117 of the General Administration of customs)
3. Administrative Measures of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on Export Supervised Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein (Decree No.133 of the General Administration of customs)
4. Provisions of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and the Goods Stored Therein (Decree No.105 of the General Administration of customs)
5. Circular of the General Administration of customs on Matters Relating to the Implementation of Provisions of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and the Goods Stored Therein ([2004] No.14)
6. Operating Procedures of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Export Supervised Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein (Shu Jia Fa [2007] No.47)
7. Operating Procedures of the customs of the People’s Republic of China on the Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Goods Stored Therein (Shu Jia Fa [2007] No.48)
8. Other laws, administrative regulations, rules and normative documents.
Application requirements:
(I) An enterprise applying for establishment of export supervised warehouse shall
1. have been registered with the administration department of industry and commerce and have corporate capacity;
2. have rights to engage in import, export and warehousing;
3. have a registered capital over RMB 3 million;
4. have the capacity to pay duties;
5. have places dedicated to goods storage. Areas of the export distribution warehouse and warehouse for domestic transfer shall not be less than5000m2and1000m2, respectively.
(II) An export supervised warehouse shall
1. comply with requirements for regional logistics development and customs layout, and relevant laws and administrative regulations on land management, planning, traffic, fire control, safety, environmental protection, etc.;
2. have safety isolation facilities and supervision facilities conforming to regulatory requirements of the customs as well as other facilities necessary for operation;
3. have computer management systems conforming to regulatory requirements of the customs which is networked with the customs;
4. have established regulations, organization, warehousing facilities, account book management & accounting systems and other warehouse management systems of the export supervised warehouse;
5. in case of private warehouse, have certificate of property right to the export supervised warehouse; in case of leased warehouse, have a lease contract with a lease term over 5 years;
6. be qualified in terms of fire control acceptance.
(III) An enterprises applying for establishment of bonded warehouse shall
1. have been registered with the administration department of industry and commerce and have corporate capacity;
2. have a minimum register capital of RMB 3 million;
3. have the capacity to pay duties;
4. have business places specific to storage of bonded goods;
5. in case of engaging in storage of special permitted goods, hold required special licenses;
6. in case of a processing trade enterprise running bonded warehouses for materials, have annual minimum exports of USD10 million;
7. meet other conditions provided by law, administrative regulations and customs regulations.
(IV) A bonded warehouse shall
1. comply with requirements of the customs for layout of bonded warehouse and be established at a place where there are customs authorities and it is convenient for customs control;
2. have safety isolation facilities and supervision facilities conforming to regulatory requirements of the customs as well as other facilities necessary for operation;
3. have bonded warehouse computer management systems conforming to regulatory requirements of the customs which is networked with the customs;
4. have management system for bonded warehouse conforming to regulatory requirements of the customs and accounting system complying with requirements of accounting law;
5. comply with laws, administrative regulations and relevant requirements on land management, planning, traffic, fire control, quality inspection, environmental protection, etc.;
6. in case of a public bonded warehouse, have a minimum area of2000m2;
7. in case of a bonded warehouse for liquid hazardous articles, have a minimum capacity of5000m3;
8. in case of a bonded warehouse for consignment sales and maintenance, have a minimum area of2000m2;
9. meet other conditions provided by law, administrative regulations and customs regulations.
Documents to be submitted upon application:
(I) Export supervised warehouse
1. Application for Establishment of Export Supervised Warehouse (Annex 1)
2. List of Items for Establishment of Export Supervised Warehouse (Annex 2)
3. Application form and feasibility report of enterprise applying for establishment of export supervised warehouse
4. Copies of establishment approval of enterprise applying for establishment of export supervised warehouse or approval of relevant competent authorities for engagement in relevant business
5. Copies of business license and tax registration certificate of enterprise applying for establishment of export supervised warehouse
6. Copies of Registration Certificate of Consignee and Consigner of Import & Export Goods or Registration Certificate of customs Broker of enterprise applying for establishment of export supervised warehouse
7. Copies of documentary evidences of land use right of export supervised warehouse or lease contract of leased warehouse
8. Geographic sketch map and plane graph of the warehouse
Copies of documents listed above shall be submitted with their originals to the customs for verification.
(II) Bonded warehouse
1. Application for Establishment of Bonded Warehouse (Annex 3);
2. List of Items for Establishment of Bonded Warehouse (Annex 4);
3. Feasibility study report;
4. Original and copy of Business License issued by administration department of industry and commerce;
5. Copy of tax registration certificates (at both state and local levels);
6. Copy of equity structure certificates (for joint ventures);
7. Copy of certificates for deposit banks of the enterprise;
8. Copies of land ownership or land use right certificates of business places proposing to engage in bonded warehousing, and property right certificates of business places proposing to engage in boned warehousing. In case of leased houses, house leasing contracts are required;
9. Location plan and plane graph of bonded warehouse to be established;
10. Warehouse management systems;
11. In case of application for establishment of bonded warehouse for consignment sales and maintenance, maintenance agreements between the enterprise and foreign merchants are required;
12. Corporate financial systems and accounting systems;
13. Certificate of qualification of fire control acceptance;
14. Other documents and materials needed to be collected by customs according to relevant regulations.
In case of application for establishment of bonded warehouse, where the warehouse has been established or the warehouse is leased for business, all documents above shall be submitted on-off; if the boned warehouse remains under construction, documents in Article 8 and Article 13 can be postponed and collected at the time of acceptance of the warehouse.
Handling procedures:
(I) Application, acceptance, review and determination of license
1. After the applicant submits application materials to the local competent custom, the competent custom will determine whether to accept the case immediately or within 5 working days; if the application materials are not complete or not in the legal forms, the compete custom shall inform the applicant of all contents to be supplemented immediately or one-off within 5 working days after the receipt of such materials; if determining to accept the application, the compete custom prepares and issues Letter of Decision on Acceptance of Application for Customs Administrative License; if determining not to do so, it prepares and issues Letter of Decision on Rejection of Application for Customs Administrative License;
2. Upon acceptance of application of the enterprise, the competent custom completes review, fill in Approval Form of Customs Bonded Warehouse/Export Supervised Warehouse, and submit opinions of preliminary review and relevant materials to the customs directly under the GACC within 20 working days from the date of acceptance. If necessary, the competent custom may send its personnel to conduct check in the warehouse;
3. The customs directly under the GACC shall make its decisions within 20 working days from the date of receipt of review opinions submitted by the local competent custom. If establishment is approved, the customs directly under the GACC prepare and issue Letter of Decision on Acceptance of Administrative License (Export Supervised Warehouse Project)/ (Bonded Warehouse Project); if establishment is not approved, they prepare and issue Letter of Decision on Rejection of Administrative License (Export Supervised Warehouse Project)/ (Bonded Warehouse Project), explain the reasons, and tell the applicant that she or he is entitled to apply for administrative reconsideration according to laws or file a administrative proceeding;
4. The applicant shall make a written application for acceptance of export supervised warehouse and bonded warehouse to local competent custom within one year from the date of issuance of approval documents by the customs. Those passing the acceptance shall not be put into operation only when they enter into registration by the customs and are granted with Registration Certificate; if enterprises don’t apply for acceptance within a certain time limit without any reasonable reason or fail to pass the acceptance, the Letter of Decision will automatically become void.
5. The competent customs of the warehouse will, within 10 days as of the receipt of the written application and the related accompanying materials from the enterprises, conducts field acceptance, fills in Record of Inspection of Customs Bonded Warehouse/Export Supervised Warehouse and submits it and relevant materials to the customs directly under the GACC for review. Export supervised warehouse and bonded warehouse applying for acceptance shall comply with relevant requirements for application.
6. The customs directly under the GACC finish review within 10 days from the date of receipt of materials submitted by the competent custom and, if necessary, they may conduct field verification with the local competent custom. For those passing the acceptance, the customs directly under the GACC issue Registration Certificate of Customs Export Supervised Warehouse/Bonded Warehouse, and approve them to run relevant business. For those failing to pass the acceptance, the customs directly under the GACC shall inform enterprises engaged in warehousing in writing.
7. The customs directly under the GACC shall, based on requirements of administrative license, issue approval documents which shall be delivered to the enterprise by the competent custom responsible for the warehouse, and make a registration in the General Administration of Customs.
(II) Change of license
1. If export supervised warehouses or bonded warehouses change their names, addresses and warehouse spaces, they shall obtain approval and consent of the compete customs and the customs directly under the GACC; in case of change of address or warehouse space, the customs shall, based on applications of enterprises, conduct secondary acceptance as required within one year from the approval of change and prior to engagement of new address. If necessary, the customs shall verify changes in the warehouse.
2. If enterprises running export supervised warehouses or bonded warehouses need to change their corporate names, registered capitals, structures and legal representatives, they shall, within 10 days from the date of issuance of approval documents, submit copies of change documents and materials to the competent customs responsible for such warehouses which shall be re-audited by the competent customs and the customs directly under the GACC. Such changes above shall not change the main body of warehouses businesses. It is still necessary to meet requirements for establishment of enterprises running export supervised warehouses or bonded warehouses.
(III) Extension of license
1. Registration Certificate of Customs Export Supervised Warehouse and Registration Certificate of Customs Bonded Warehouse are valid for 3 years.
2. In case of application for extension, enterprises running warehouses shall submit the following materials to the competent customs responsible for such warehouses within 30 working days from the expiry of registration certificate: (1) Application for extension of export supervised warehouse or bonded warehouse (format documents are not available now); (2) Registration Certificate of Customs Export Supervised Warehouse or Registration Certificate of Customs Bonded Warehouse; (3) Copies of business license and tax registration certificate; (4) Registration Certificate of Consignee and Consigner of Import & Export Goods; (5) Address of export supervised warehouse or bonded warehouse, documentary evidences of land use right, lease contracts of leased warehouses, or lease agreements of leased lands for establishment of warehouses; (6) Other materials to be submitted. Copies of documents listed above shall be submitted with their originals to the customs for verification.
3. The customs shall determine whether to approve the extension or not prior to the expiry of registration certificate; the competent customs fill in Approval Form of Customs Export Supervised Warehouse/Bonded Warehouse after receiving the application and submit their opinions to the customs directly under the GACC within 15 working days and the customer directly under the GACC determine whether to approve such extension within 15 working days.
(IV) Revocation of license
If enterprises running export supervised warehouses or bonded warehouses obtain administrative licenses for establishment of such warehouses by improper means such as by concealing facts and providing false materials, the competent customs responsible for such warehouses will report to the customs directly under the GACC in writing to revoke operation qualification of such enterprise upon audit.
(V) Cancellation of license
1. In case of any of the following conditions, the customs will cancel registration of export supervised warehouses and take back Registration Certificate of Export Supervised Warehouse: (1) such warehouses don’t conduct any business in 6 consecutive months without any reasonable cause; (2) such warehouses don’t apply for review extension within a certain time limit without any reasonable cause or don’t pass the extended review; (3) enterprises running such warehouses apply for change of types of export supervised warehouses in writing; (4) enterprises running such warehouses apply for termination of storage business of export supervised warehouses; (5) enterprises running such warehouses don’t meet requirements for establishment.
2. In case of any of the following conditions, the customs shall inform enterprises of bonded warehouses in writing, cancel their registration certificates and take back Registration Certificate of Bonded Warehouse in accordance with the law: (1) term of business expires, agreements are suspended or terminated; (2) such warehouses loss conditions for establishment of bonded warehouses; (3) enterprises don’t run bonded warehouses in 6 consecutive months without any reasonable cause; (4) bonded warehouses don’t involve in or pass annual review.
Handling deadline: See handling procedures for details.
Charge standard: No charge.
Acceptance department: Trade Department and Field Business Department of various customs
Office address: See the office addresses of various customs for details.
Office hours: See the office hours of various customs for details.
Contact telephone: See the contact numbers of various customs for details.
Annexes:
1. Application for Establishment of Export Supervised Warehouse
2. List of Items for Establishment of Export Supervised Warehouse
3. Application for Establishment of Bonded Warehouse
4. List of Items for Establishment of Bonded Warehouse
Other notes:
In the case of any inconsistence between the content of this guide and the current laws, administrative regulations, rules and normative documents of the customs, the latter shall prevail.
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