Webinar: Belgian Customs and their Activities in China – 9 December 2020
December 15, 2020 Category Past events, Weekly
The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce and the Province of East Flanders organized a webinar focused on ‘Belgian Customs and their activities in China’ on 9 December 2020..
Ms. Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director of the Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the participants to the webinar and gave a short introduction on the situation in China and the Chamber. She also thanked the Province of East Flanders for organizing the webinar jointly with the Chamber. The Province of East Flanders has been active on the Chinese market for a long time, together with the Ghent University, which also has a representative in Beijing. The Province of East Flanders and the Province of Hebei are sister provinces since more than 25 years and companies interested to learn more about the opportunities for doing business in Hebei can contact the Province of East Flanders, which has already introduced many companies from East Flanders to Hebei province.
Mrs. Isabelle Bedoyan, Counselor and Customs Attaché at the Embassy of Belgium in China, gave an overview of Belgian Customs’ activities in China in this very special year of 2020. She has been posted in Beijing since 2018, but Belgium has had a Customs Attaché in Beijing since 2008, covering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao, each having their own customs regulations and administrations. One of the main tasks of the Custom Attaché is to have strong ties with the local customs administrations, permitting the use of this vast network for facilitation and for helping economic operators find their way through the maze of Customs. Belgian Customs has Attaché postings in Brazil, Russia, India, and Indonesia, besides the one in Beijing.
The Customs Attaché has four main tasks:
1. Facilitation of legitimate trade, which includes informing investors which want to develop activities in Belgium and economic operators trading between China and Belgium. The focus is import and export information with and emphasis on prevention and helping understand Customs regulations. The Attaché can also assist with blocked shipments, but the emphasis is on avoiding such a situation. The Attachés can also be an intermediary between Belgian operators and Chinese Customs, offering their network and expertise. But they cannot be a lawyer or a Customs broker and will always operate respecting national laws and local authorities. The emphasis is on prevention and avoiding costs related to delays due to Customs issues.
2. Customs diplomacy, building a professional network. The Attaché’s main contact is China Customs, but also the Anti-Smuggling Bureau. There are regular meetings with international and EU Customs Attachés, and the Attaché also supports the interests of the regions.
3. Fight against fraud. The Attaché keeps an eye on compliance and on illicit trade to make more room for regular trade. Topics include intellectual property rights and endangered species.
4. Economic diplomacy. The Attaché participates in investment roadshows of regional representatives, works together with Chambers of Commerce, and brings Customs expertise to logistics fairs.
Attention points in China are: language and cultural barriers; procedures before and at the border; changing legislation, and the reorganization of Chinese ministries following the National People’s Congress session of March 2018. There are many different scenarios related to companies doing business with China, including export to the Chinese market; production in China; sourcing products from China; and Belgian investments in China and Chinese investments in Belgium. In every scenario there is a Customs aspect.
The reorganization of Ministries in 2018 is still important because some companies still refer to the former names of organizations, which can create confusion. The General Administration of China Customs (GACC) is a full ministerial level organization now integrating the former international responsibilities of the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). Domestic aspects are now handled by the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR). GACC is now also responsible for the registration and supervision of overseas manufacturers of imported food. GACC has now integrated the functions of health quarantine, animal and plant quarantine, import and export of food, and commodity inspection. The reorganization of the ministries created a new organization: the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR), which now integrates some responsibilities of the State Administration of Industry and Commerce (SAIC), AQSIQ, the State Food and Drug Administration, and some standardization administrations. The Ministry of Agriculture changed its name to Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs.
Another topic coming up in questions is the Chinese Commodity Code. The International Harmonized System is decided by the World Customs Organization and has six digits. Both Belgium and China are members of this system. The digits that follow are used by countries for different subtitles. Following the reorganization in China, the code now has 13 digits, up from 10. The commodity code is important in communications with service providers and related to procedures needed before imports. If you are uncertain about the commodity code, you can request an import ruling in China or an export ruling with Belgian Customs.
VAT-rates on imported goods decreased over the last years, the minimum rate from 11% to 9%, and the maximum rate from 17% to 13%. There is also a consumption tax similar to what we call excises because it mainly concerns alcohol, tobacco, cosmetics and luxury goods. Finally, there are the Customs duties. If the goods are coming from WTO members, there is the MFN duty rate. Also check the free trade agreements. China has FTAs with 20 countries. Also be aware that duties often change. Some key technical equipment, products and raw materials may be exempt from duty and VAT. There is also a yearly review of tariffs. The China Compulsory Certification (CCC) is the competence of the CNCA and is similar to our CE mark. It covers more than 150 types of products and you need to check which tests are required to obtain the certification.
Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, a lot of new regulations, policies and activities were triggered. Some activities came to a standstill, others accelerated due to the needs of the pandemic, such as imports of masks and test kits. Belgian Customs was also involved in the “Shortage” task force, and giving information on the Chinese export legislation on personal protective and medical equipment and facilitating emergency cargo destined for Belgium. The Attaché had to ask many questions and bridge what was happening in China and Belgium. In the first semester, China had also to deal with import and later export of personal protective equipment (PPE). This exposed the mismatch between the Chinese and EU standards and also the efforts of the Chinese authorities to prevent exports of faulty materials. Some translation was needed not only from Chinese to English, but also what all this really meant on the ground for exporting these goods. It was also a challenge to deal with the high flow at ports and airports. China Customs also had to deal with sick incoming passengers that had to be quarantined. Also in the second quarter, many decisions were implemented by China Customs. Talking about Customs, work is not back to normal, it is rather a new normal. There are still a lot of precautions being taken when organizing trade exhibitions. The fact that you can’t travel is also hindering communication. China has put a new focus on the testing of incoming goods, especially in the cold chain. By November, they had tested 800,000 food packages. The Announcement 103 instituted a circuit breaker system. If a cargo tests positive, there may be a Customs clearance stop of one to three weeks from the related importer. The Chinese authorities also published a guidebook on corona prevention in the cold chain.
The economic support team of Belgium Customs can be contacted at the email da.mf.es@minfin.fed.be and the website is at https://finance.belgium.be/en/customs_excise
Mr. Leslie Lambregts is Director International Affairs at the Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC), the competent authority for animal health, plant health and food safety. It implements the European legislation, including the Official Control Regulation (OCR), the new Animal Health Law (AHL) and Plant Health Law (PHL). Import checks are carried out in designated border control posts (BCPs) and the agency is also delivering export certificates. The main export-related service of the food agency is the international department, responsible for negotiations with countries outside Europe on the conditions to export our products to those countries. Those negotiations to open new markets take a long time – four years or more. First an official request for market access has to be made, then a lengthy questionnaire has to be answered, after which the authorities will evaluate the control system in Belgium. Bilateral protocols and certificates need to be agreed upon. All instructions to export outside Europe are published on the website http://www.favv.be/professionelen/export/ Export inspections are carried out to be included on the closed list of establishments and to deliver certificates for export. FASFC has a close collaboration with the regional authorities, Foreign Affairs, embassies in third countries, the European Commission, and sector federations in Belgium.
Related to China there are 10 ongoing SPS market access files – including animal feed, meat, vegetables and apples. The ASF embargo is still a big issue for the pig sector in Belgium. Since ASF was in Belgium a few years ago, we managed to control the disease and during the last year we did not see any virus circulation anymore. We obtained the pre-status already on a European level, complying with the legislation to be considered as free again, and are now working to regain our free status internationally, hopefully still this year. This will allow us to start the negotiations with China again, but this does not mean that China will allow imports of Belgian pork immediately. It will take quite some time to convince our Chinese counterparts to open the market again. For gelatin, there is no access file ongoing so exports won’t be possible. The raw materials have to be from animals born and raised in Belgium, which is not feasible for Belgian producers. It will be complex to come to an agreement to export gelatin from Belgium to China. FASFC has good contacts with its Chinese counterparts GACC, MARA and SAMR. There is an agreement to post a FASFC Attaché in China and a candidate has finally been found. Annabelle Schreiber will have the title of Belgian Agricultural Attaché for Food Safety and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Related Measures. She will however not be responsible for economic matters related to agriculture as this is not the competence of the Federal Minister of Agriculture, nor of the food agency. She will take care of the market access files and facilitate the negotiations on embargoes on ASF and Asian influenza, which also has an impact on the exports of certain products. She will collaborate will all relevant counterparts in China. Ms. Annabelle Schreiber is expected to leave for China in January 2021.
Q&A: Is Belgium working on an agreement with China for imports of frozen foods? Mr. Lambregts: For frozen foods, in principle you don’t need a phytosanitary certificate, but we need to check what the Chinese requirements are. You can contact your importer, who will probably know the requirements.
Do goods coming from Africa via Belgium to China need to meet EU standards or only when entering Belgium? Mrs. Bedoyan: From a Customs point of view it’s not an import, so the answer is no, unless there is a security aspect. Mr. Lambregts: This is considered to be a transshipment, not destined for the European market, so it doesn’t have to comply with European requirements.
Is there any positive news about the import of food trees? Mrs. Bedoyan: The procedure is quite complicated because the trees need to be planted for a year in a specific area.
Could the Chinese regulations be aligned with the European ones? Bedoyan: The question is who has to be aligned with whom. We think that everybody should align with the EU rules, but the problem is there are national standards which might be different.
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