General Administration of Customs, Administration of Bonded Warehouses and the Goods Stored Therein Provisions

Promulgated: December 5 2003
Effective: February 1 2004
Interpreting authority: General Administration of Customs
Applicability: "Bonded warehouses" is defined as warehouses established with the approval of customs specially for the storage of bonded goods and other goods whose customs formalities have not been completed (Article 2).

Main contents: Compared to the repealed PRC Customs, Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Stored Goods Procedures of 1988, the Provisions place the emphasis on the establishment and management of bonded warehouses. With the approval of customs, certain types of goods such as imported goods for processing trade, transit goods and goods of foreign investors for temporary storage may be stored in bonded warehouses (Article 5). To establish a bonded warehouse, an enterprise must have registered capital of at least Rmb3 million (Article 8). The bonded warehouse should also meet the criteria stipulated in Article 9, such as compliance with customs' requirements on the design and reaching the minimum size or capacity. Bonded warehouses cannot be rented or lent to others to manage. Branch warehouses are not allowed (Article 14). Bonded warehouses are subject to customs inspection and annual review (Articles 15 and 16). Goods stored in warehouses may undergo simple processing such as packaging, dissembling and assembling, but not substantial processing. Such goods cannot be sold, assigned, mortgaged or disposed of in other ways without the approval of customs (Article 22). Goods stored in bonded warehouses can only be stored for one year and should be shipped abroad, transferred to bonded zones, export processing zones or other bonded warehouses, changed to be imports for processing trade, or sold to the domestic market (Articles 24 and 25). Except for force majeure, bonded warehouses should pay taxes to customs and bear corresponding legal liability for goods that are damaged or destroyed during their storage in bonded warehouses (Article 28). 
Related legislation: PRC Customs Law, Jul 8 2000, CLP 2000 No.7 p10
Repealed legislation: PRC Customs, Administration of Bonded Warehouses and Stored Goods Procedures, May 7 1988, CLP 1988 No.6 p60