On November 10, 2023, the General Administration of Customs of the PRC issued a notice to solicit opinions from the public on the draft amendment of the Customs Law. The feedback for this solicitation ended on December 10, 2023.

The current Customs Law was promulgated and implemented in 1987 and underwent a comprehensive revision in 2000, playing an important role in adapting to the needs of joining the WTO, promoting the development of foreign trade, combating smuggling, and establishing a modern customs system. From 2013 to 2021, the Customs Law was revised five times, but these revisions were only individual adjustments made to implement the administrative approval reform. The purpose of the 2023 amendment is to meet the needs of China's promotion of high-quality development, the construction of a rule of law society, and practical development, as well as to adapt to the new responsibilities and tasks of customs in the new era.

The current Customs Law consists of 9 chapters and 102 articles. The draft amendment consists of 10 chapters and 113 articles, including general principles, customs law enforcement measures and supervision, customs risk management, enterprise management, entry and exit vehicles, entry and exit goods, entry and exit articles, tariffs and customs security, legal liabilities, and supplementary provisions. In terms of the structure of chapters, the draft amendment integrates the "tariffs" and "customs security" chapters of the current Customs Law into one chapter, deletes the "supervision of law enforcement" chapter, and adds three new chapters: "customs law enforcement measures and supervision," "customs risk management," and "enterprise management." In terms of the number of articles, 10 are retained, 25 are deleted, 67 are modified, and 28 are added.

The draft amendment of the solicitation draft contains numerous contents. According to the official explanation of the amendment, we briefly summarize them as follows:

1. Establish the concept of risk management throughout the entire process of customs supervision.

2. Consolidate the achievements of institutional reform and reflect the new functions of customs.

3. Implement the results of customs business reform and promote trade facilitation.

4. Strengthen in-process and post-process supervision and improve the mechanism for comprehensive management of enterprises.

5. Enhance the coordinated governance and synergy of supervision.

6. Integrate customs law enforcement measures and supervision to the unity of rights and responsibilities.

7. Further improve the legal basis in critical areas.

8. Improve the system of legal liabilities to ensure proportionate penalties.

9. Adjust the legal terminology to ensure the universality and comprehensiveness of concepts.

The solicitation draft deserves the attention of multinational enterprises and import-export trade companies. We will also continue to follow the further progress of the amendment. Please get in touch with us if you have any questions regarding this amendment and customs issues.

Authors:

Dr. Leslie Xu is the head of Shanghai office. He has been focusing on intellectual property (IP) related practice and research since 2013. His practice areas cover the overall strategy of IP prosecution and enforcement, trademark and copyright infringement litigation and non-litigation dispute resolution, IP administrative protection, IP due diligence, IP licensing, online IP protection, domain name dispute resolution, anti-unfair competition, antitrust, etc.

Matt Hou is currently the Head of the Enforcement and Investigation Team. Matt has rich experience in infringement targets' analysis, investigations, evidence collections and raid actions (including criminal raid actions).