Bonded Warehouse

I. Definition and classification of bonded warehouse

“Bonded warehouses” means the warehouses that are established upon approval of the customs for exclusive keeping of bonded goods and other goods that have not gone through customs clearance.

Bonded warehouses are, by objects stored, divided into public bonded warehouses and self-use bonded warehouses.

Public bonded warehouses are operated by the independent domestic enterprise legal persons that engage primarily in warehouse storage business in China, and especially provide bonded storage services to the general public.

Self-use bonded warehouses are operated by specific independent domestic enterprise legal persons inChina, and only store the bonded goods of such enterprises for self use.

The bonded warehouses that are used exclusively for keeping commodities of special usage or special types are called as special bonded warehouses.

Special bonded warehouses comprise bonded warehouses for liquid dangerous goods, bonded warehouses for stock materials, bonded warehouses for consignment and maintenance, and other special bonded warehouses.

“Bonded warehouses for liquid dangerous goods” means those that are consistent with the provisions of the state on storage of dangerous chemicals and that exclusively provide bonded storage services of oil, product oil or other liquid dangerous goods in bulk.

“Bonded warehouses for stock materials” means those processing trade enterprises use to keep the raw materials, equipment and the spare parts imported for re-exporting, and the goods stored are only supplied to such enterprises themselves.

“Bonded warehouses for consignment and maintenance” means those that specially store the consigned spare parts imported for the maintenance of foreign products.

II. Scope of goods that may be stored in bonded warehouses: 

1. Imported goods for processing trade;

2. Transit goods;

3. Oil, materials and maintenance spare parts for vessels and aircrafts used for international voyages or flights;

4. Imported consignments of spare parts for maintenance of foreign products;

5. Goods temporarily stored by foreign merchant;

6. Ordinary trade goods that have not gone through customs clearance;

7. Other goods that are approved by the customs but have not gone through customs clearance.

III. Bonded warehouse application conditions:

1. Be registered with the administrative department of industry and commerce and have the status of enterprise legal person; For the enterprise that applies for the public bonded warehouse, its scope of operation must include warehouse storage business;

2. Have a minimum registered capital of RMB 3 million;

3. Be able to pay taxes to the customs;

4. Have special business venue for storage of bonded goods;

5. If engaging in storage of commodities subject to special license, have the prescribed special license;

6. With regard to a processing trade enterprise engaging in operation of bonded warehouses of stock materials, have a minimum export volume of USD10 million;

7. The bonded warehouse set up shall meet the requirements of the customs on the layout;

8. Have the safety segregation facilities and control facilities that meet the requirements of customs control and other facilities necessary for business operations;

9. Have the computer management systems of bonded warehouse that meet the requirements of customs control and network with the customs;

10. Have the management systems of bonded warehouse that meet the requirements of customs control and the accounting systems that meet the requirements of the accounting law;

11. Conform to the laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the state on land administration, planning, transportation, fire control, safety, quality inspection, and environmental protection, etc;

12. With regard to a public bonded warehouse, have a minimum area of 2,000 square meters;

13. With regard to a bonded warehouse of liquid dangerous goods, have a minimum volume of 5,000 square meters;

14. With regard to a bonded warehouse for consignment and maintenance, have a minimum area of 2,000 square meters;

15. Other conditions provided for by laws, administrative regulations and customs rules.

IV   Documents to be submitted for application:

1. Application for Bonded Warehouse and Form of Application Matters for Bonded Warehouse;

2. Copy of business license for enterprise legal person;

3. Copies of tax registration certificates (state tax and local tax);

4. Copy of deposit bank certificate;

5. Copy of fire certificate;

6. Copy of warehouse land ownership or use right certificate;

7. Plan and location plan of bonded warehouse applied to be established;

8. Warehouse management system (measure);

9. For the application concerning provision of tax-free fuel services for international navigation ship, aircraft and international ocean fishing vessel, Business License of External Oil Supply must be provided.

10. Other relevant materials.

V    Handling procedures:

A bonded warehouse is subject to the examination and approval of the customs directly under the GACC.

Where an enterprise applying for establishing a bonded warehouse, it shall file a written application with the local supervisory customs of the place where the warehouse is to be located, and submit the relevant certificates. The local supervisory customs shall accept the application if the application materials are complete and valid. In case the application materials are incomplete or inconsistent with the statutory forms, the local supervisory customs shall, within 5 working days, notify the applicant of all the contents that need to be supplemented. The local supervisory customs shall, within 20 days as of the date of acceptance of the application, present the opinions of preliminary examination and submit the relevant materials to the customs directly under the GACC for examination and approval. The customs directly under the GACC shall finish the examination within 20 workdays as of the date of receipt of the materials, and shall issue the document of approval if the conditions are met, and the valid term of the document of approval is one year; in case the conditions are not met, the applicant shall be notified in writing form of the reasons.

An enterprise applying for establishing a bonded warehouse shall apply to the customs for inspection and acceptance of the bonded warehouse within one year from the day on which the customs issues the document of approval for the bonded warehouse, and the customs directly under the GACC will make the acceptance inspection. Where the applicant enterprise fails to file an application for acceptance inspection within the time limit without justified reasons or the bonded warehouse fails to pass the acceptance inspection, the document of approval for that bonded warehouse shall become invalid automatically. After passing the acceptance inspection, a bonded warehouse may be put into operation only after being registered with the customs and being issued the Registration Certificate of Customs Bonded Warehouses of the People’s Republic of China.

Bonded logistics center (A type)

I. Definition and classification of bonded logistics center

“Bonded logistics center (A type)” means a customs-supervised place which is approved by the customs, operated by a domestic enterprise legal person in China, and which is specialized in bonded warehousing/logistics business.

Bonded logistics centers (A type) are classified into public logistics centers and self-use logistics centers by service scope.

A public logistics center is a customs-supervised place operated by a domestic enterprise legal person that exclusively engages in warehousing/logistics business in China, and provides comprehensive bonded warehousing/logistics services to the general public.

A self-use logistics center is a customs-supervised place operated by a domestic enterprise legal person in China, and only provides bonded warehousing/logistics services to the enterprise itself or its internal members.

II. Goods that may be stored in logistics centers: 

1. Domestic export goods;

2. Transit goods and international transshipment goods;

3. Goods temporarily stored by foreign merchants;

4. Imported and exported goods for processing trade;

5. Materials and maintenance spare parts for vessels and aircrafts used for international voyages or flights;

6. Imported consignments of spare parts for maintenance of foreign products;

7. Ordinary trade imported goods that have not gone through customs clearance;

8. Other goods that are approved by the customs but have not gone through customs clearance.

III. An enterprise that operates the logistics center (A type) shall meet following requirements:

1. Be registered with the administrative department of industry and commerce and have the status of independent enterprise legal person;

2. Have a minimum registered capital of RMB 30 million;

3. Be able to pay taxes to the customs and perform other legal obligations;

4. Have special business venue for storage of bonded goods and land use right for business venue; Lease term of not less than 3 years in case of lease of other person’s land and venue for operation;

5. If engaging in storage of commodities subject to special license, have the prescribed special business license;

6. Those operate self-use logistics centers have annual import and export amount of not less than USD200 million in eastern areas and not less than USD50 million in central and western areas.

7. Have the management systems that meet the requirements of customs control and the accounting systems that meet the requirements of the accounting law.

IV.  The logistics centers applied to be established shall meet following requirements: 

1. Conform to supervision, planning and construction requirements of the customs for the logistics center;

2. Storage area of the public logistics center of not less than 20,000 square meters in eastern areas and not less than 5,000 square meters in central and western areas.

3. Storage area of the self-use logistics center (including stacking yard) of not less than 4,000 square meters in eastern areas and not less than 2,000 square meters in central and western areas.

4. Establish the computer management system that meets the requirements of customs control, provide terminal equipment for customs office for data query and network with the customs in accordance with authentication methods and data standards as specified by the customs via “E-port” platform so that the customs achieves data exchange and information sharing with such departments as the State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on an uniform platform;

5. Provide such supervision and office facilities that meet the requirements of customs control as safety segregation facilities and video monitoring systems;

6. Conform to the laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the state on land administration, planning, fire control, safety, quality inspection, and environmental protection, etc.

V. An enterprise applying for establishing a logistics center shall file a written application with the customs directly under the GACC and submit following materials stamped with the official seal of enterprise:

1. Application;

2. Opinions of the municipal people’s government (attached with feasibility study report);

3. Copy of articles of incorporation;

4. Copy of business license for enterprise legal person;

5. Copy of ID card of legal representative;

6. Copy of tax registration certificate;

7. Copy of deposit bank certificate;

8. Credit certificates such as verification report issued by CPA;

9. Internal management system of the logistics center;

10. Document to certify the site conforms to overall planning requirements for land use, location plan and layout plan;

11. Copy of customs declaration registration certificate of declarer unit.

VI.   An application for establishing a logistics center (A type) shall be accepted by the customs directly under the GACC and submitted to the General Administration of Customs of China for approval.

VII.  Acceptance of logistics center (A type).

The enterprise shall apply to the General Administration of Customs of China for acceptance within one year from the day on which the General Administration of Customs of China issues the document of approval of the logistics center, and the customs directly under the GACC shall make the acceptance inspection jointly with such departments as provincial-level tax authorities and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

After the logistics center passes the acceptance inspection, the General Administration of Customs of China will issue the Acceptance Certificate of Bonded Logistics Center(A Type) and Registration Certificate of Bonded Logistics Center (A Type) to the enterprise and award the license for bonded logistics centers (A type). The logistics center may conduct relevant business after passing the acceptance inspection.

If enterprise that is approved to establish a logistics center fails to timely apply for acceptance with justified reasons, deferred acceptance (not exceeding 6 months) is allowed with consent of the customs directly under the GACC. In case of special circumstances where an additional deferred acceptance is required, it shall be approved by the General Administration of Customs of China.

If enterprise that is approved to establish a logistics center fails to file an application for acceptance inspection within the time limit without justified reasons or the logistics center fails to pass the acceptance inspection, it is deemed as withdrawal of application for establishing the logistic center.

Bonded logistics center (B type)

I. Definition bonded logistics center

“Bonded logistics center (B type)” means a centralized customs-supervised place which is approved by the customs and operated by a domestic enterprise legal person in China, where many enterprises are located and which is specialized in bonded warehousing/logistics business.

II. Goods that may be stored in logistics centers: 

1. Domestic export goods;

2. Transit goods and international transshipment goods;

3. Goods temporarily stored by foreign merchants;

4. Imported and exported goods for processing trade;

5. Materials and maintenance spare parts for vessels and aircrafts used for international voyages or flights;

6. Imported consignments of spare parts for maintenance of foreign products;

7. Ordinary trade imported goods that have not gone through customs clearance;

8. Other goods that are approved by the customs but have not gone through customs clearance.

III.    An enterprise that operates the logistics center may conduct following business:

1. Bonded storage of imported and exported goods and other goods that have not gone through customs clearance;

2. Simple circulative processing of and provision of value-added services for goods stored;

3. Global procurement and international allocation and distribution;

4. Transit trade and international transshipment business;

5. Other international logistics business approved by the customs.

IV. The logistics centers established shall meet following requirements: 

1. Storage area of the logistics center of not less than 100,000 square meters in eastern areas and not less than 50,000 square meters in central and western areas.

2. Conform to supervision, planning and construction requirements of the customs for the logistics center;

3. Be located at the place close to sea, air and land transportation hubs, where inland international logistics demand is large and traffic is convenient and a customs agency is established for centralized customs supervision.

4. Be confirmed by provincial people’s government to conform to overall layout of local economic development and meet bonded logistics demand of processing trade development.

5. Establish the computer management system that meets the requirements of customs control, provide terminal equipment for customs office for data query and network with the customs in accordance with authentication methods and data standards as specified by the customs via “E-port” platform so that the customs achieves data exchange and information sharing with such departments as the State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on an uniform platform;

6. Provide such supervision and office facilities that meet the requirements of customs control as safety segregation facilities and video monitoring systems.

V. An enterprise that operates the logistics center shall meet following requirements:

1. Be registered with the administrative department of industry and commerce and have the status of independent enterprise legal person;

2. Have a minimum registered capital of RMB 50 million;

3. Be able to make daily management of the enterprises in the center;

4. Be able to assist the customs in supervising goods into and out of the logistics center and business practices of enterprises in the center.

VI. An enterprise applying for establishing a logistics center shall file a written application with the customs directly under the GACC and submit following materials stamped with the official seal of enterprise:

1. Application;

2. Opinions of the provincial people’s government (attached with feasibility study report);

3. Copy of articles of incorporation;

4. Copy of business license for enterprise legal person;

5. Copy of ID card of legal representative;

6. Copy of tax registration certificate;

7. Credit certificates such as verification report issued by CPA;

8. Legal certificate for use right of land on which the logistics center is located, location plan and layout plan.

VII. An application for establishing a logistics center (B type) shall be accepted by the customs directly under the GACC and submitted to the General Administration of Customs of China for approval.

VIII. Acceptance of logistics center (B type).

The enterprise shall apply to the General Administration of Customs of China for acceptance within one year from the day on which the General Administration of Customs of China issues the document of approval of the logistics center, and the customs directly under the GACC shall make the acceptance inspection jointly with such departments as the State Administration of Taxation and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange or authorized institutions.

After the logistics center passes the acceptance inspection, the General Administration of Customs of China will issue the Acceptance Certificate of Bonded Logistics Center(B Type) and Registration Certificate of Bonded Logistics Center(B Type) to the enterprise and awards the license for bonded logistics centers (B type). The logistics center may conduct relevant business after passing the acceptance inspection.

If enterprise that is approved to establish a logistics center fails to timely apply for acceptance with justified reasons, deferred acceptance (not exceeding 6 months) is allowed with consent of the customs directly under the GACC. In case of special circumstances where an additional deferred acceptance is required, it shall be approved by the General Administration of Customs of China.

If enterprise that is approved to establish a logistics center fails to file an application for acceptance inspection within the time limit without justified reasons or the logistics center fails to pass the acceptance inspection, it is deemed as withdrawal of application for the logistic center.