China’s entry-exit inspection and quarantine duties and workforce have been integrated into the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) structure as the agency undertakes organizational reform.
“From April 20, the previous entry-exit inspection and quarantine workforce commenced operation as an integral part of Customs. Officers at front-line border areas including passenger processing, cargo examination and service counters, are now in Customs uniform with epaulet,” said a GACC statement.
Earlier, in a conference on April 16, Ni Yuefeng, minister of GACC, explained the need to integrate entry-exit inspection and quarantine operations into Customs as he stressed the importance of a Customs organizational reform.
He said that fast-tracking service counter consolidation and streamlining formalities “need to be achieved at earliest convenience to safeguard the merge of functions in seven operational areas including: passenger processing, single declaration/examination/release initiative, transport means boarded examination, radioactive detection, mail processing, broker registration and the Single Window Platform for foreign trade, so that external clients could deal with one authority and one process only.”
He also highlighted the importance of expediting relevant legislation related to the organizational reform so that “tangible outcomes” can be delivered from the reform process.
Ni said China Customs reform aims to lower clearance costs, increase efficiencies, and improve business conditions. Specifically, he said, the focus will be on Customs’ “functional transformation and optimization,” which will seek to establish “a brand-new Customs authority that reflects socialism with Chinese characteristics, striving for higher efficiency and lower cost in Customs clearance, better environment for business, more rigorous control, and higher service quality, in a bid to deliver the benefits of the organizational reform to the industry and the public in a timely manner.”
As part of the reform, business document templates, stamps and seals will be replaced and updated, said GACC. “Customs controlled areas and examination process of newly opened ports need to be planned and designed in line with the requirements of the organizational reform. All relevant laws, provisions and regulatory documents need to be reviewed to enable timely establishment, amendment, [abolition] and explanations in the legal framework to support the reform.”
Photo courtesy of GACC
