Have you ever boarded a flight to China to discover that you’ll have to check your hand luggage because all the overhead bins are filled with Louis Vuitton boxes and other luxury goods? If so, those flights may soon be a thing of the past thanks to new customs regulations being implemented across China since next month.
About the New Regulations
The new regulations centre around a “personal use” rule and appear to be being brought in as a means of cracking down on individuals who buy huge amounts of cheap goods overseas to be sold at a profit in China.
Reasonable Quantity Rules
If however they deem what you’re bringing in to be excessive then they can hold your luggage until a later date.
For Example
Under the new rule a person traveling with two pairs of leather shoes would fall under the reasonable quantity allowance.
If however an individual is caught travelling with more than 5 pairs of exactly the same kind of shoe then this could be seen as importing goods to be sold within China and the shoes would therefore be seized.
Relative Rules For Common Products & Non-refundable Credits
Cigarette
Only one carton of cigarettes (200 cigarettes) from HK/Macao are duty-free, while two cartons (400 cigarettes) at most from other regions are duty-free.
Audiovisual Products
Less than 20 single-disc versions or 3 whole-set versions at most are allowed to be brought in for each person each time.
Digital Products
Mobile, camera and laptop are no exemption shall be granted.
According to the latest policy, there will be a temporarily rejected decision of baggage clearance if:
Traveler fails to pay tax of imported articles on spot;
Traveler fails to pay tax of imported and exported articles which are under administration of import and export license on spot;
The articles outnumber “reasonable quantity”without Customs declaration;
Suspicious articles which still remain unidentified or unverified;
Other articles which are not cleared by the Customs.
In addition, travelers need to deal with Customs formalities within 3 months if there is any temporarily uncleared article, otherwise, the article shall be disposed by Customs in accordance with laws.
More Stringent Regulations
The new rules also stipulate that individuals caught trying to import large quantities of goods will no longer be able to pay the tax on those goods upon arrival and that they will have to do so at a later date.
Consequences
The introduction of this rule will no doubt come as a worry to many overseas Chinese who make a living off selling overseas goods back in China for a considerable profit.
Customs officials have warned that if you’re planning on traveling overseas with a number of goods that you'll be bringing back into China on your return, that you first report this to customs before leaving the country.
Source: ShanghaiExpat
HACOS,Business Services Solutions Master
