Administrative Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China for the Adoption of Inspection Results of Import and Export Commodities

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 For the purpose of standardizing the adoption of inspection results of import and export commodities of the Customs, these Measures are formulated in accordance with the provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Import and Export Commodity Inspection and its Implementation Regulations thereof.

Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the inspection results of the  agencies adopted by the Customs in the import and export commodity inspection as well as the supervision and administration over the inspection agencies whose inspection results are adopted ( agencies adopted).

Article 3 The General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC) takes principal charge of the adoption of inspection results of import and export commodities.
  The regional customs and subordinate customs implement the adoption in the import and export commodity inspection in accordance with the law.

Article 4 For the purpose of these Measures, "adoption" refers to the act that the Customs, in inspecting import and export commodities, takes, in accordance with the law, the inspection results of the agencies adopted as the basis for conformity assessment.
  For the purpose of these Measures, "agencies adopted" refer to the inspection agencies that have the qualifications and capabilities required by the Customs and have been listed by the GACC in the catalogue of agencies adopted.

Article 5 The GACC shall, based on the results of the quality and safety risk assessment of import and export commodities, determine and announce the scope of commodities whose inspection results may be adopted (hereinafter referred to as “adopted commodities”) and the specific requirements for adoption, and implement dynamic adjustment.

 The adoption requirements include: the name and serial number of the adopted commodities, the applicable technical specifications, inspection items, inspection methods, sampling plans, validity period of inspection reports and other requirements relating to the quality and safety of import and export commodities.

Article 6 The GACC establishes a management system for adoption of inspection results to improve the informatization level of adoption.

Chapter II Administration of the Agencies Adopted

Article 7 An inspection agency that meets the following conditions may apply to the GACC for being included in the catalogue of agencies adopted:
  (I) It has the legal business operation qualifications in the country or region where it is located;

(II) It has the relevant inspection capability for the adopted commodities;

(III) An inspection agency registered in the territory of the People's Republic of China shall obtain the China Metrology Accreditation (CMA) and accreditation of other relevant domestic qualifications, or obtain the accreditation of ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17020 implemented by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS); and an inspection agency registered outside the People's Republic of China shall obtain the accreditation of the ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17020 systems by institutions under the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation-Mutual Recognition Arrangement (ILAC-MRA);

(IV) It is familiar with and complies with the relevant laws, regulations and standards of the People's Republic of China on commodity inspection;

(V) It has the capability to carry out inspection activities independently, impartially and objectively; and

(VI) It has no inspection-related illegal record at home and abroad in the recent three years.

If the GACC provides otherwise, such provisions shall prevail.

Article 8 To apply to be included in the catalogue of agencies adopted, an inspection agency shall submit the following materials to the GACC through the adoption management system:
  (I) application form;

(II) information of the legal person and investor(s) of the inspection agency;

(III) relevant qualification certification or accreditation certificate and relevant evidentiary materials;

(IV) a statement on technical capability scope, including the inspection scope of relevant qualifications, inspection methods and standards adopted;

(V) a statement on the independence of the inspection activities it is undertaking and other relevant evidentiary materials;

(VI) a statement on no inspection-related illegal record at home and abroad in the recent three years; and

(VII) the list of the issuers of commodity inspection reports.

If the relevant materials are in a foreign language, a Chinese version shall be attached thereto.

Article 9 The GACC shall organize an expert review panel to assess and examine the application materials submitted by an inspection agency. The assessment and examination may be conducted in the form of, among others, written examination or on- site inspection.

Article 10 Where the provisions of these Measures are satisfied upon examination, the GACC shall include the inspection agency in the catalogue of agencies adopted corresponding to the relevant adopted commodities; where the provisions of these Measures are not satisfied, the GACC shall notify the inspection agency through the adoption management system.

Article 11 The GACC is responsible for announcing the catalogue of agencies adopted and making dynamic adjustments thereto.
The catalogue of agencies adopted shall include: names and serial numbers of adopted commodities, applicable technical specifications, inspection items, names and codes of agencies adopted, countries or regions where they are located and contact information.

Chapter III Implementation of Adoption

Article 12 An agency adopted may accept the entrustment of a consignor or a consignee of import and export commodity or the agent thereof to inspect the adopted commodities and issue an inspection report.
  An agency adopted may, as needed, subcontract a part of the inspection items to other agencies adopted upon the written consent of the entrusting party concerned. The agency adopted undertaking the subcontracted items shall have the corresponding inspection capacity and shall not conduct any subcontract again.

Article 13 An inspection report issued by an agency adopted shall, in addition to meeting the content requirements prescribed in the provisions on inspection and testing qualification, contain the following particulars:
  (I) the name and code of the agency adopted;

(II) the serial number of the inspection report;

(III) information on the commodity, including the name, model and specifications, corresponding batch number or product sequence number and other product traceability information of the commodities;

(IV) the inspection items, inspection methods, sampling plans etc. specified in the adoption requirements;

(V) the name and contact information of the entrusting party;

(VI) the date of acceptance, the place of inspection, the inspection time and the date of issuance;

(VII) inspection results; and

(VIII) the signature of the issuer.

Where the agency adopted holds that there are other circumstances that may have an impact on the inspection results, it may indicate them in the inspection report.

Where the agency adopted has subcontracted a part of the inspection items to other agencies adopted for inspection, it shall also indicate in the inspection report the subcontracted inspection items and the names and codes of the agencies adopted undertaking the subcontracted items.

Article 14 A agency adopted shall, as entrusted by a consignor or a consignee of import and export commodity or the agent thereof, submit an inspection report to the Customs through the adoption management system prior to the declaration of the relevant import and export commodity, unless as otherwise stipulated in the adoption requirements. The Customs shall not adopt any inspection results, if the inspection report is not submitted within the prescribed time limit.
  Unless as otherwise specified in the adoption requirements, within the validity period of the submitted inspection report, an inspection report is not required to be submitted repeatedly for import and export of commodity with the same specification and model.

Article 15 The consignor or the consignee of import and export commodity or the agent thereof shall, in accordance with the provisions stipulated, provide the Customs with the number of the inspection report and the code of the agency adopted issuing the inspection report. The Customs shall examine the corresponding inspection report according to the adoption requirements. Inspection results that satisfy the requirements shall be adopted; and inspection results that fail to satisfy the requirements shall not be adopted.

Article 16 Where the Customs adopts the inspection results, the consignor or consignee of import and export commodity or the agent thereof shall submit a declaration of quality and safety compliance to the Customs, and the Customs shall no longer conduct sampling inspection of import and export commodity, except for inspections carried out by the Customs in light of risk prevention and control needs.

Chapter IV Supervision and Administration

Article 17 In case of any change in the information, an agency adopted shall submit the information alteration materials to the GACC through the adoption management system in a timely manner.

Article 18 An agency adopted shall keep the original documents  related to the adoption activities in accordance with the following provisions:
  (I) The application materials provided for in Article 8 of these Measures shall be kept for a long time; 

(II) The inspection reports and inspection records related to the adoption business  shall be kept for not less than six years; and

(III) The internal documents of the agency adopted, including instructions, standards, manuals, guidelines, reference data, etc. shall be kept for not less than six years.

Article 19 The Customs may implement supervision over the agencies adopted in the ways as follows:
  (I) verifying the inspection capacity of the agencies adopted;

(II) checking or requiring, in accordance with the law, the agencies adopted to submit the relevant materials; and

(III) carrying out on- site inspection or special investigation.

Where the Customs exercises supervision over an agency adopted in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the agency adopted shall submit the relevant materials to the Customs within the time limit prescribed by the Customs. If the relevant materials are in a foreign language, a Chinese version shall be attached thereto.

Article 20 Where the regional customs and subordinate customs find that an inspection report issued by an agency adopted is untrue or false, it shall report to the GACC.
  The GACC may decide to suspend adoption of the inspection reports  issued by the relevant agencies and take other necessary handling measures.

Article 21 Where an agency adopted takes the initiative exiting the catalogue of agencies adopted, it shall file an application through the adoption management system.

Article 22 The GACC may remove an agency adopted from the catalogue of agencies adopted if the agency adopted takes the initiative applying for exiting the catalogue of agencies adopted or falls under any of the following circumstances:
  (I) issuing untrue or false inspection reports;

(II) providing the Customs with inspection reports that are beyond the commodity scope specified in the catalogue of agencies adopted;

(III) its inspection capacity failing to meet the requirements of the Customs;

(IV) refusing to cooperate with the Customs in supervision and administration, where circumstances are serious; and

(V) falling under other circumstances that do not meet the conditions of an agency adopted.

From the date of removal from the catalogue and promulgation, the Customs shall no longer adopt any inspection results issued by the said inspection agency.

An inspection agency that has been removed from the catalogue of agencies adopted by the GACC shall not re-apply to be an agency adopted within one year.

Where an agency adopted falls under the circumstances stipulated in items (I) or (II) of the first paragraph of this Article, the GACC may notify the relevant departments at home and abroad of the relevant information.

Article 23 Where an inspection agency has been removed by law from the catalogue of agencies adopted , the Customs may, in light of work needs, conduct a retrospective investigation on the inspection activities implemented by the inspection agency prior to its removal.

Article 24 Where an agency adopted registered within the territory of the People's Republic of China falls under any of the circumstances stipulated in items (I) or (II) of the first paragraph of Article 22 of these Measures, the Customs shall impose administrative penalties thereupon according to the law; where the case constitutes a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

Article 25 Where a consignor or a consignee of import and export commodity or the agent thereof violates the provisions of these Measures, the Customs shall impose administrative penalties thereupon according to the law; where the case constitutes a criminal offence, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with the law.

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 26 Inspection agencies registered in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan region of the People's Republic of China shall be governed by reference to the provisions stipulated in these Measures for inspection agencies registered outside the territory of the People's Republic of China.

Article 27 These Measures shall be interpreted by the GACC.

Article 28 These Measures shall come into force on December 1, 2022.