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Worldwide Customs and Regulatory Updates

The General Administration of China Customs has released a new notice No. 43* that took effect on September 1, 2010. The objective of notice No. 43 is to more closely monitor inbound and outbound personal postal items. 

Major changes and effects of the new regulation are as follows:

The previous preferential duty terms for inbound and outbound personal shipments are cancelled. They are replaced with the following new terms:

• Personal items shipped into China which are subject to duty of RMB50 or less will be exempt from payment.
• Personal items shipped into China which are subject to duty exceeding RMB50 will not be exempt from payment.
• The declared value limit for each personal shipment sent to or from Taiwan will be lowered to RMB800, down from the previous RMB1,000.
• China Customs will increase their supervision of inbound and outbound personal shipment declarations. Items that carry a higher declared value than the following limitations stipulated by China Customs will either be returned or go through custom clearance in accordance with the stipulations applied to business goods. Having been examined and proven to be for personal use by Customs, items which are single and indivisible can proceed through custom clearance as usual.
  - The value limit for each personal shipment sent to or from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan is RMB800
  - The value limit for each personal postal item sent to or from other countries and regions is RMB1,000
  
  

* Details of new regulation No.43 can be found at http://www.customs.gov.cn/publish/portal0/tab1/info231023.htm (Chinese version)

Due to the stricter inspections, the clearance time for inbound and outbound personal shipments may increase. If you would like any further assistance please call our Customer Service Team.