China Customs Actively Promote Trade FacilitationChina Customs has taken various measures to promote trade facilitation, said a senior official with the General Administration of Customs Thursday.At a press conference held by the Information Office under the State Council, Zhao Guanghua, deputy director of the administration, said that China Customs has always attached importance to effective customs clearance and given full support to the growth of exports. With the acceleration of economic globalization, trade facilitation has become a common call in the international trade arena. Various international economic cooperation organizations such as Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), have set the realization of trade facilitation as one of their objectives. Nationwide clearance reform was implemented early this year and the average release time has now dropped to 1.5 days from 2.2 days prior to the clearance reform, said Zhao. On August 1, the sub-system for export exchange collection under "China E-Port" was fully operational in all customs offices across the country, while in the meantime, China Customs has been wasting no time in securing nationwide application of "China E- Port" and working at ways to implement remote filing and declaration for export draw back. Zhao said that since the last quarter of 2000, China Customs has implemented the "2R & 2H Project". Previously the average time needed to clear lorries in transit from the Shenzhen border crossing was 30 minutes, but after the implementation of the project, the release time was reduced to one minute. Since the fast transit procedure was implemented in the Yangtze River valley, the total number of segments in the export clearance procedure for the Yangtze River waterway has been reduced from eight to five, and those for import clearance procedure from 11 to four, he pointed out. Starting from August, China Customs will introduce nationwide the experience of the "2R & 2H Project", improving by a big margin clearance speeds for goods in transit, he added. Zhao said that China Customs has also provided an easier clearance procedure for large and high-tech enterprises, such as pre-arrival declaration, on-line declaration, fast transit procedure, checking and release on site, urgent clearance, release with deposit and prioritized consultation. Twenty-four-hour clearance, clearance consultation and quality service are also provided at various customs offices, he added |
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