Measures for the Administration of the Issuance of Certificates of Origin for Exported Goods of the People's Republic of China

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 These Measures are developed in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law of the People's Republic of China, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Inspection of Imported and Exported Commodities, and its Implementation Regulation, the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Origin of Imported and Exported Goods, and other relevant laws and administrative regulations for the purposes of regulating the administration of the issuance of certificates of origin for exported goods of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as “certificates of origin”).

Article 2 These Measures shall apply to the administration of issuance of non-preferential certificates of origin, certificates of origin under generalized system of preferences (“GSP”) and regional preferential certificates of origin.

Article 3 The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the administration of the issuance of certificates of origin across the country.

The Customs and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and local agencies of trade promotion (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “certificate issuing institutions”) shall be responsible for the work of issuing certificates of origin.

Chapter II Application for, Examination and Issuance of Certificates of Origin

Article 4 The consignor or manufacturer of exported goods may apply to the certificate issuing institution for a certificate of origin by itself or on a commission basis.

Where the consignor or manufacturer of exported goods entrusts the filing of an application to an agent, the power of attorney shall be submitted to the certificate issuing institution.

Article 5 The consignor of exported goods for which a certificate of origin is applied or its agent, the manufacturer or its agent (hereinafter collectively referred to as the “applicant”) shall truthfully enter the application information for the certificate of origin in accordance with the provisions, and submit the commercial invoice of exported goods and other materials that prove the origin qualification and country (region) of the goods.

When applying for a certificate of origin for the first time, an applicant shall also provide basic information such as the unified social credit code and English name of the enterprise. Where the aforesaid information is changed, the applicant shall update the information in a timely manner.

An applicant shall assume corresponding legal liability for the authenticity, accuracy, completeness and standardization of the application information and materials.

Article 6 An applicant shall apply to the certificate issuing institution for a certificate of origin before or at the time of shipment of the exported goods.

According to the application of the manufacturer, the certificate issuing institution at the place of its domicile may pre-verify the origin of the exported goods.

Article 7 After receiving an application for a certificate of origin, the certificate issuing institution shall complete examination within two working days and respectively handle it according to the following circumstances:

(1) Where the application information and materials do not comply with the provisions, the applicant shall be notified of all the necessary supplements and corrections at one time.

(2) Where the application information and materials comply with the provisions and the exported goods comply with the corresponding rules of origin, the certificate of origin shall be issued.

(3) Where the exported goods do not comply with the relevant rules of origin, a certificate of origin shall not be issued, and the reasons shall be explained to the applicant.

Article 8 A certificate issuing institution may issue certificates of origin with electronic signatures and electronic seals.

Article 9 A certificate issuing institution shall, within three years from the date of issuance of a certificate of origin, keep the photocopy of the certificate of origin and the application materials in paper or electronic form.

Article 10 A consignor and manufacturer of exported goods shall, within three years from the date of issuance of a certificate of origin, keep the relevant materials that prove the origin qualification of exported goods and the country (region) of origin in paper or electronic form.

Chapter III Replacement, Reissuance and Modification of Certificates of Origin

Article 11 An applicant may, within one year from the date of shipment of the exported goods, apply to the certificate issuing institution for the replacement of a certificate of origin, and concurrently submit the bill of lading and other shipping documents.

A certificate issuing institution shall replace the certificate of origin and indicate the word “replacement” in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of these Measures.

For the returned goods or the goods whose origin is unable to be verified, the certificate issuing institution shall not replace a certificate of origin.

Article 12 Where the original certificate of origin is lost or damaged, an applicant may apply for a certified true photocopy of the original certificate within the validity period of the original certificate. The certificate issuing institution shall issue a certificate after examination, indicate the word “reissuance” and that the original certificate is invalid.

Article 13 Where a certificate of origin needs to be modified, an applicant shall apply to the original certificate issuing institution within the validity period of the original certificate. The certificate issuing institution may require the applicant to provide supporting materials and handle it according to different circumstances:

(1) To apply for issuance of a new certificate of origin, the applicant shall return the original certificate and the certificate issuing institution shall issue a new certificate in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of these Measures after the applicant passes the examination. Where the original certificate cannot be returned, the certificate issuing institution shall indicate in the new certificate that the original certificate is invalid.

(2) Where an application for the modification of the original certificate is filed, the certificate issuing institution shall modify the original certificate after examination, affix signature to the modification and affix the seal of the certificate issuing institution.

Article 14 A certificate issuing institution shall complete examination within two working days from the date of receiving an application for replacement, reissuance or modification of the certificate of origin.

Article 15 A certificate of origin shall be valid within one year from the date of issuance.

A new certificate of origin after replacement shall be valid for one year from the date of shipment of the exported goods.

The validity period of a reissued or modified certificate of origin is the same as that of the original certificate.

Chapter IV Verification of Place of Origin

Article 16 A certificate issuing institution may verify the origin in the following ways when conducting pre-verification of origin, examination of issuance and follow-up supervision:

(1) Requiring the applicant to submit additional information and materials that prove the origin qualification and country (region) of the exported goods.

(2) Consulting and copying contracts, invoices, account books, production and processing records and other relevant materials.

(3) On-site verification of the origin qualification and country (region) of the production equipment, processing procedures, raw materials and spare parts of the exported goods, as well as specifications, packaging, trademarks, shipping marks and marks of origin and other relevant information related to the determination of origin of exported goods.

The time of origin verification shall not be included in the time limit stipulated in Articles 7 and 14 of these Measures.

Article 17 When a certificate issuing institution carries out the origin verification according to the law, the applicant shall provide cooperation.

Article 18 Where the competent authority of the importing country (region) of goods makes a request for origin verification, the certificate issuing institution shall conduct verification in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of these Measures. The verification results shall be uniformly reported by the externally-filed points of contact of the General Administration of Customs.

Chapter V Supervision and Administration

Article 19 The General Administration of Customs shall supervise and inspect the issuance of certificates of origin.

Article 20 The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for external filing of certificate issuing institutions, their seals, issuing personnel, points of contact and other information, and carry out external exchange of electronic information on origins.

Article 21 A certificate issuing institution shall be responsible for the administration of their blank certificates of origin and issuance seals.

Article 22 The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the statistics of issuance of certificates of origin across the country.

A certificate issuing institution shall be responsible for the statistics of its issuance of certificates of origin.

The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade shall be responsible for summarizing the data of statistics of issuance of certificates of origin in the trade promotion system and submit them to the General Administration of Customs on a regular basis.

Article 23 Staff members of the General Administration of Customs and certificate issuing institutions shall keep confidential the trade secrets, personal privacy and personal information known in the course of certificate issuance.

Article 24 Where China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the local agencies of trade promotion find suspected violations of these Measures, they shall hand over clues to violations to the Customs in a timely manner and cooperate with the Customs in the investigation.

Article 25 Behaviors in violation of the provisions of these Measures shall be handled by the Customs according to the relevant laws and regulations.

Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

Article 26 The meanings of the following terms in these Measures are as follows:

The term “non-preferential certificates of origin” means the supporting documents issued in the implementation of the most-favored-nation treatment policy, the anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures, the management of marks of origin, limitations on the volume and countries, tariff quotas and other non-preferential trade measures, and in such activities as government procurement and trade statistics for determining that the exported goods originate in the People's Republic of China.

The term “certificates of origin under GSP” means the supporting documents confirming that the exported goods originate in the People's Republic of China for goods exported from China to enjoy the tariff concession treatment of the preference-giving countries under the GSP.

The term “regional preferential certificates of origin” means the supporting documents determining the origin or origin qualification of exported goods for goods exported from China to enjoy the tariff concession treatment of other contracting parties under the free trade agreement or preferential trade arrangement.

Article 27 The administration of issuance of special certificates such as transit certificates, processing and assembly certificates, tobacco authenticity certificates issued for specific products, and certificates of origin of products under special arrangements for non-preferential import to the EU shall be governed, mutatis mutandis, by these Measures.

Article 28 Where the free trade agreements and preferential trade arrangements concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China contain special provisions on the administration of issuance of certificates of origin, such provisions shall prevail.

Article 29 The General Administration of Customs shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Measures.

Article 30 These Measures shall come into force on September 1, 2024, upon which the Measures for the Administration of the Issuance of Non-preferential Certificates of Origin of the People's Republic of China issued by Order No. 114 of the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on June 14, 2009, and revised by order No. 184 of the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine on October 18, 2016, Order No. 238 of the General Administration of Customs on April 28, 2018, and Order No. 240 of the General Administration of Customs on May 29, 2018 shall be repealed.