Ten Checks for China Trade Compliance
Compliance · 6 min read
Managing trade compliance across countries is increasingly challenging. In China, importers deal with multiple government agencies — Customs, Commerce (MOFCOM), market regulation authorities, the Foreign Exchange Bureau (SAFE), the Taxation Bureau and others — while local regulations keep changing. Whether you handle compliance in-house or with a third party, start with these ten self-assessment checks:
- Know your facilities — how they operate and where they are located.
- Know the total number of import declarations your company has filed.
- Know the total value and clearance time of those declarations.
- Know your duties — make sure they are calculated accurately and paid on time.
- Know your price-declaration history by item; large fluctuations may indicate a problem.
- Set a supply-chain management policy to ensure correct classification — if it's wrong, you are the one penalized.
- Know the status of your compliance documents, especially their accuracy and retention; every importer must keep copies of the required declaration documents.
- Make sure issues such as classification, valuation and missing documents are monitored and resolved.
- Evaluate your freight forwarders and customs brokers to ensure they are legitimate; keep copies of their invoices and documents.
- Maintain a written trade-compliance handbook — it shows auditors that enforcement policies are in place.
The ultimate test: "How fast can my company respond to a Customs audit — producing declared values of regularly imported items with corresponding customs declarations from the last three years?" If your answer is more than six months, it's time to review your compliance goals.
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