Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China

Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China

Order of the President of the People's Republic of China

(No. 23)

The Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China, as adopted at the 9th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 26, 2024, is hereby issued, and shall come into force on December 1, 2024.

Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of China

April 26, 2024

Tariff Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted at the 9th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China on April 26, 2024)

Table of Contents

Chapter I General Provisions

Chapter II Tariff Items and Tariff Rates

Chapter III Amount of Duties Payable

Chapter IV Tax Preferences and Collection of Customs Duties under Special Circumstances

Chapter V Administration of Duty Collection

Chapter VI Legal Liability

Chapter VII Supplemental Provisions

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 This Law is enacted in accordance with the Constitution for the purposes of regulating the collection and payment of customs duties, maintaining the import and export order, promoting foreign trade, advancing high-level opening up, promoting high-quality development, safeguarding national sovereignty and interests, and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of taxpayers.

Article 2 The goods permitted to be imported into or exported out of and all articles allowed to enter the People's Republic of China shall be subject to tariffs in accordance with this Law and relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 3 The consignees of imported goods, the consignors of exported goods, and the carriers or recipients of entry articles are tariff payers.

E-commerce platform businesses, logistics companies and customs declaration companies engaging in cross-border e-commerce retail imports, and entities and individuals specified by any law or administrative regulation as having the obligation to withhold and remit or to collect and remit tariffs are withholding agents of tariffs.

Article 4 The tariff items and tariff rates of import and export goods and rules applicable to tariff items and tariff rates, among others, shall be governed by the Customs Import and Export Tariffs of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the “Tariffs”) attached to this Law.

Article 5 The entry articles for personal rational self-use shall be subject to tariffs through the simple collection method. The entry articles in excess of the quantity for personal rational self-use shall be subject to tariffs as import goods.

The entry articles for personal rational self-use worth not more than a specified amount shall be exempted from tariffs.

The simple tariff collection method for entry articles and the amounts exempted from tariffs shall be prescribed by the State Council, and be filed with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

Article 6 The tariff work shall adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party of China, implement the guidelines, principles and policies and decisions and arrangements of the Party and the state, and serve the national economy and social development.

Article 7 The State Council shall establish a Customs Tariff Commission to perform the following functions:

(1) Deliberating the major tariff plans, and drawing up proposals for tariff reform and development and organizing the implementation thereof.

(2) Deliberating the major tariff policies and plans for tariff negotiations with foreign countries.

(3) Offering recommendations on the Tariffs.

(4) Compiling and publishing the Tariffs on a regular basis.

(5) Explaining the tariff items and tariff rates in the Tariffs.

(6) Deciding on the imposition of anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, and duties under safeguard measures, and implementing other tariff measures decided by the State Council.

(7) Other functions as prescribed by laws, administrative regulations and the State Council.

The composition and working rules of the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council shall be prescribed by the State Council.

Article 8 The Customs and its staff members shall keep confidential the trade secrets, personal privacy, and personal information of duty payers and withholding agents to which they have access during the performance of their duties in accordance with the law, and shall not divulge them or illegally provide them to anyone else.

Chapter II Tariff Items and Tariff Rates

Article 9 A tariff item is composed of a tariff nomenclature heading numbers, a table of contents, and corresponding stipulations, among others.

The applicable rules for tariff items include classification rules, among others. The classification of import and export goods shall be determined in accordance with the table of contents, stipulations, the general principle of classification, category notes, chapter notes, subheading notes, and domestic subheading annotations as prescribed in the Tariffs, and other classification notes, and the classified goods shall be put under the corresponding tariff nomenclature heading numbers.

As actually needed, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council may submit recommendations on adjusting tariff items and their applicable rules, which shall be issued and implemented after being approved by the State Council.

Article 10 The most-favored-nation (“MFN”) tariff rates, conventional tariff rates, preferential tariff rates, and general tariff rates are set up for import tariffs.

Export tariff rates shall be set up for export tariffs.

Tariff quota rates shall be set up for the import and export goods subject to tariff quota management.

Provisional tariff rates may be applied to import and export goods during a certain period of time.

Article 11 The application of tariff rates shall conform to the corresponding rules of origin.

For the goods entirely obtained from a country or region, the place of origin thereof shall be this country (region). For the goods the production of which is participated in by two or more countries (regions), the place of origin thereof shall be the country (region) where the substantial change is finally completed. Where there are other provisions on the determination of places of origin in international treaties or agreements concluded or acceded to by the People's Republic of China, such provisions shall prevail.

The specific determination of the places of origin of import goods shall be governed by this Law and the provisions issued by the State Council and its relevant departments.

Article 12 The MFN tariff rates shall be applicable to the import goods originating in the members of the WTO, to which the clauses on the MFN treatment are commonly applicable, the import goods originating in the countries or regions that have concluded with the People's Republic of China any international treaties or agreements that contain clauses on reciprocal MFN treatment or those China has acceded to, and the import goods whose places of origin are within the People's Republic of China.

Conventional tariff rates shall be applicable to the import goods originating in the countries or regions that have concluded with the People's Republic of China any international treaties or agreements containing clauses on tariff preferences or those China has acceded to and complying with the relevant provisions of the international treaties or agreements.

Preferential tariff rates shall be applicable to the import goods originating in the countries or regions that have been granted special preferential tariff arrangements by the People's Republic of China and comply with the provisions on the administration of places of origin issued by the state.

General tariff rates shall be applicable to the import goods originating in the countries or regions other than those specified in paragraphs 1 through 3 of this Article and the import goods whose places of origin are unknown.

Article 13 Where a provisional tariff rate is set up for the import goods to which the MFN tariff rate applies, the provisional tariff rate shall prevail.

Where a provisional tariff rate is set up for the import goods to which the conventional tariff rate applies, the lower one shall prevail; and where the MFN tariff rate is lower than the conventional tariff rate and no provisional tariff rate is set up, the MFN tariff rate shall prevail.

Where a provisional tariff rate is set up for the import goods to which the preferential tariff rate applies, the lower one shall prevail.

With regard to the import goods to which the general tariff rate applies, the provisional tariff rate shall not apply.

Where a provisional tariff rate is set up for the export goods to which the export tariff rate applies, the provisional tariff rate shall prevail.

Article 14 With regard to the import and export goods subject to tariff quota management, the tariff quota rate shall apply to those within the tariff quota, and the provisional tariff rate shall prevail if a provisional tariff rate is set up; and for those beyond the tariff quota, the applicable tariff rate shall be governed by Articles 12 and 13 of this Law.

Article 15 The adjustments to tariff rates shall be governed by the following provisions:

(1) Where it is necessary to adjust any MFN tariff rate, tariff quota rate, or export tariff rate promised in the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council shall offer recommendations, which shall, after being examined by the State Council, be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for decision.

(2) In light of the actual circumstances, adjustments to MFN tariff rates, tariff quota rates, or export tariff rates within the scope promised in the Protocol on China's Accession to the World Trade Organization, adjustments to countries or regions or the scope of goods to which preferential tariff rates apply or tariff rates, or adjustments to general tariff rates shall be decided by the State Council, and be filed with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

(3) The application of MFN tariff rates under special circumstances shall be decided by the State Council, and be filed with the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.

The implementation of conventional tariff rates shall be organized by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council after the completion of procedures for the confirmation or approval of relevant international treaties and agreements.

The scope of goods subject to provisional tariff rates, tariff rates, and periods shall be decided by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

The technical conversion of tariff rates related to adjustments to tariff items shall be proposed by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council and be implemented upon approval by the State Council.

The adjustments to tariff rates made according to the preceding four paragraphs shall be released by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council.

Article 16 With regard to the import goods on which anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties, duties under safeguard measures shall be imposed in accordance with the law, the applicable tariff rates shall be governed by the provisions of laws and administrative regulations on anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard measures.

Article 17 Where any country or region fails to implement the MFN treatment clauses or preferential tariff clauses in any international treaty or agreement concluded or acceded to by the country or region and the People's Republic of China, the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council may offer recommendations on taking the corresponding measures based on the principle of reciprocity, which shall be implemented upon approval by the State Council.

Article 18 With regard to a country or region that takes prohibitive or restrictive measures, impose additional tariffs, or takes any other measures that may affect the normal trade against the People's Republic of China in terms of trade in violation of the international treaty or agreement concluded by the country or region and the People's Republic of China or they have acceded to, measures such as imposing retaliatory duties on the import goods originating in the country or region may be taken.

The scope of goods subject to retaliatory duties, applicable countries or regions, tariff rates, periods, and collection methods shall be proposed by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council and be implemented upon approval by the State Council.

Article 19 Where, for any import goods involving any measures prescribed in Article 16, 17 or 18 of this Law, a duty payer fails to provide certification materials, or the certification materials provided by the duty payer still cannot exclude the possibility that the goods originate in a country or region against which the prescribed measures are taken upon examination by the Customs, the higher one of the following two tariff rates shall apply:

(1) The tariff rate which is the total of the highest tariff rate which applies to the relevant goods for taking the prescribed measures and the applicable tariff rate as prescribed in Article 12, 13 or 14 of this Law.

(2) General tariff rate.

Article 20 With regard to import or export goods or entry articles, the tariff rate implemented on the day when a duty payer or withholding agent completes the declaration shall apply.

Where a declaration is made before the import goods arrives upon confirmation by the Customs, the tariff rate on the day when an entry declaration is made for the means of transportation that carries the goods shall apply.

Article 21 Under any of the following circumstances, the tariff rate on the day when a duty payer or withholding agent undergoes the formalities for the payment of duties shall apply:

(1) The bonded goods are not re-transported out of China and are instead sold on the domestic market.

(2) The goods eligible for duty reduction or exemption are transferred, used for other purposes or otherwise disposed of upon approval.

(3) The goods that enter China temporarily are not to be re-transported out of China, or the goods that leave China temporarily are not to be re-transported into China.

(4) The leased import goods are purchased and the duties are paid by installments.

Article 22 Where any duties are to be recovered or refunded, the applicable tariff rate shall be determined in accordance with Article 20 or 21 of this Law.

Where a duty payer or withholding agent is required to pay duties for violating relevant provisions, the tariff rate on the day when the violation of the provisions occurs shall apply. If it is unable to determine the exact day when the violation occurs, the tariff rate on the day when the Customs discovers the violation shall apply.

Chapter III Amount of Duties Payable

Article 23 Customs duties may be collected on an ad valorem basis, by quantity, or on a composite basis.

Duties payable to be collected on an ad valorem basis shall be calculated by multiplying the dutiable value by the proportional tariff rate.

Duties payable to be collected by quantity shall be calculated by multiplying the quantity of goods by the fixed tariff rate.

Duties payable to be collected on a composite basis shall be the total of the value obtain......