China Customs is a government agency that supervises and manages all arrivals in and departures from the Customs territory of the mainland of the People's Republic of China. It exercises a centralized management structure. Its essential tasks are entry and exit control, revenue collection, fighting smuggling and foreign trade statistics compilation. It also shoulders such major responsibilities as duty collection, Customs control, supervision and management of bond operations，foreign trade statistics compilation, audit-based control, Customs intellectual property rights protection, anti- smuggling, and port management.
The General Administration of Customs is the headquarters of China Customs. It is a full-ministerial-level government agency that directly reports to the State Council of the People’s Republic of China and manages all the Customs districts nationwide. The Customs districts report to the General Administration of Customs instead of the local governments. The General Administration of Customs is composed of 17 departments and 6 directly subordinated service or coordinating functions, manages 4 associations (i.e. Customs Institute of China, Customs Brokers Association of China, Port Society of China, and Association of Bonded Areas and Export Processing Zones of China), and has posted representative offices in the European Union, the Russian Federation, and the United States of America. The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Ministry of Supervision stationed the Discipline Inspection Office and the Discipline Inspection Bureau respectively in the General Administration of Customs.
China Customs has a total of 46 Customs districts or agencies and offices at the same level (i.e.Guangdong Sub-Administration of Customs that is in charge of the 7 Customs districts located in Guangdong Province, 2 Supervising Offices that are located in Tianjin and Shanghai respectively, 41 Customs districts and 2 Customs educational institutions), 580 Customs houses or offices and nearly 4000 Customs clearance control stations. Its staff is numbered at around 50,000 (including Customs anti-smuggling police).
The incumbent Director of the Board and Minister of the General Administration of Customs of China is Mr. Sheng Guangzu.
The working guidelines upheld by China Customs are to "exercise law-based administration, keep the national gateway, serve the national economic interests and promote social development". Its team-building principle is to make Customs personnel “politically staunch, professional and reliable”. Its spirit is “be loyal and upright to revitalize the Customs and rejuvenate China”.
China Customs adopts a Customs rank system. The Customs ranks are divided into 5 levels and 13 classes, which include:
> Customs Commissioner-General and Deputy Customs Commissioner-General;
> Customs Commissioner First Class, Second Class and Third Class;
> Customs Supervisor First Class, Second Class and Third Class;
> Customs Superintendent First Class, Second Class and Third Class;
> Customs Inspector First Class and Second Class
China Customs continuously improves its clearance model, control system, management mechanism and workforce competence. China Customs,
--aiming at raising efficiency, has adopted a multi-level clearance model in conformity with the credit ratings and law-compliance degree of enterprises;
--eyeing on effectiveness, is going to build up a holistic Customs control system through more cooperation and communication with other departments, a system which is geared to the Integrated Clearance Project, features the functions of frontline control, follow-ups management and combating smuggling, defines clearly the 3-level duties among the General Administration of Customs, the Customs districts at local levels and the Customs houses which are affiliated to the Customs districts.
--has established an orderly, well-functioned and forceful management mechanism to optimize its work on decision-making, organization and coordination, supervision and enforcement, evaluation and assessment, monitoring and review as well as accountability defining.
--has put in a lot of efforts to enhance the sense of duty, capability and risk-controlling ability of its workforce, helping them cope with complicated situations, guard against risks and solve problems.