China Customs Adjusts Personal Postal Articles Administration Measures

The adjusted measures on the administration of the personal postal articles would take effect on September 1, 2010, as stated in the Announcement of the General Administration of Customs of the People s Republic of China on Adjusting the Measures on the Administration of Personal Postal Articles.(hereinafter referred to as the Announcement 2010 )

The commodities entering and leaving China are classified into two basic categories: goods and articles.
According to the Customs Law of China, the inward and outward commodities subject to Customs control are classified into two basic categories, which are goods and articles, with each category being governed by specific control policies(for example, the unique tariff and permit policies). Generally speaking, goods refer to the commodities that involve the transfer of ownership from domestic/foreign seller (consignor) to foreign/domestic buyer (consignee) based on the paying of the money from buyer (consignee) to seller. In other words, these commodities are for commercial use which is covered by the Foreign Trade Law of the People s Republic of China. Articles with contrasted with goods , are not for commercial purpose, and should not be sold or rented after their entry into the country. Personal postal articles, which are mainly sent as gifts among friends and relatives and involve no money giving and taking, falls naturally under the category of articles . Apparently, those commodities bought by domestic consumers from abroad through the recently popular ways of overseas proxy (to find some one to buy the products you need for you) and online shopping are not articles but goods . The importation of such goods in which the third party (for example, the agents and the dealers) can charge fees upon the closing of the deal or earn revenue by means of price spread is actually a kind of business activity. If importing goods , regardless of the value, the parties involved should go through Customs formalities, pay the duties and present the relevant permits and documents the State requires for the sake of public security, quarantine, public health and etc.

The importation of goods under the disguise of personal articles disturbs the normal order in commodities exchange.
A lot of things about inward mails and parcels have changed with the rapid economic development and the abundance of the commodities in the domestic market. One thing is that most of the articles sent in through the mails and parcels are no longer gifts for relatives, making the duty preferential policy that Customs adopted to tend to the needs of the family members of the overseas Chinese not as needed as before. Another major change lies in the changing of nature of some of the postal articles from articles to goods , as manifested by the fast-growing business of online shopping , buy through mails and overseas proxy . Seeing the opportunity arising from the changes, some dealers deliberately break the whole batch of goods into smaller quantities and have them sent through postal delivery systems and express mails under the disguise of personal articles to avoid Customs control and full duty paying. Such activities, which make the goods more price competitive than those that have gone through normal Customs procedures, have adversely affected the order in commodities exchange and regulation, letting the State s efforts of safety and sanitation control on import commodities go in vain and even, putting consumers right and public security in danger.

Use duties as leverage: change the duty exemption limit for personal postal articles.
According to the Announcement 2010 , the major change in the administrative measures on personal postal articles lies in the altering of the duty exemption limit, which is a decision that can both meet the individuals needs and the anti-smuggling requirements based on the changed situation.
The changing of the exemption limit will not put unfair burden on those who want to send articles through the post in the normal way. On the contrary, it s believed that such an arrangement can give a heavy blow to the illegal activities that gaining profits from tax evading and protect the normal order in postal importations as well as the selling of the goods.

Relevant laws and regulations stipulate RMB1000 as the upper limit for the personal postal articles sent between China and foreign countries, and RMB 800 for those sent between mainland China and Hong Kong SAR as well as mainland China and Macao SAR. Also, if the postal articles on which the duties are estimated to not more than RMB50, then the duties shall be exempted. Following the above rules and the principle that most of the inward postal articles (luxury goods which are not for daily use excluded) are subject to a 10% or 20% flat duty rate, only a sum of RMB50-RMB200 of duties shall be paid by the receivers on their postal articles. So, it is believed that the change on the administration measure mentioned in the Announcement 2010 is appropriate, taking into account the current living standards of the Chinese people. However, such a change will deal a blow to the prosperous business on importing goods in the name of personal articles in which duties are evaded. The goods imported this way will soon lose the popularity since they no longer have the price advantage and have no sound and reliable after-sale services.

The Announcement 2010 is the embodiment for the continual importance that the State has laid on the exchange between residents and their overseas relatives and friends.
In the early days of the founding of the People s Republic of China, there was not as abundant supply in the market as it is today. Against such a backdrop, China Customs, following the guiding principles of the State, had adopted preferential policies on duty exemption for the postal articles to tend to the needs of the domestic family members who have overseas relatives, given that the total amount of the inward and outward posts was small and most of the articles sent were for personal use only at that time. Later, to go with the changed situations, China Customs in 1994 promulgated the Announcement on Changing the Upper Limit and Duty Exemption Limit for Inward and Outward Personal Postal Articles which stipulated RMB 800 and RMB 400 as the upper limit and duty exemption limit respectively for personal postal articles sent between mainland China and Hong Kong SAR as well as mainland China and Macao SAR, and RMB1000 and RMB 500 for those sent between China and other countries and regions.

According to the Announcement 2010 , China Customs still uses RMB800 and RMB1000 as the upper limits for personal postal articles, which means that after paying the duties, generally, the articles sent can go through Customs formalities as postal articles and do not need to present the relevant permits and documents that the State requires for goods .