Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce

Shanghai Customs

Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission

Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau

Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission

Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration

Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, State Taxation Administration

Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration

Shanghai Office of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission

Hu Shang Zi Mao [2021] No. 40 Document

Circular on Several Measures for Strengthening the Reform of Business Environment for Cross-border Trade at Shanghai Port in 2021

All relevant entities,

In order to thoroughly implement the Regulation on Optimizing the Business Environment (Guo Ling No. 722 Document) issued by the State Council, the Regulation of Shanghai Municipality on Optimizing the Business Environment issued by Shanghai Municipal People's Congress and the Action\r\n Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Enhancing the Reform of System \r\nIntegration and Continuously Strengthening the Development of \r\nWorld-Class Business Environment issued\r\n by the Shanghai Municipal CPC Committee and the Shanghai Municipal \r\nPeople's Government, accelerate the formation of a law-based, \r\ninternational and convenient business environment for cross-border trade\r\n and constantly improve the sense of fulfillment among the import and \r\nexport enterprises, Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Shanghai \r\nCustoms, Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission, Shanghai \r\nMunicipal Finance Bureau, Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, \r\nShanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration, Shanghai Municipal\r\n Tax Service of State Taxation Administration, Shanghai Maritime Safety \r\nAdministration and Shanghai Office of China Banking and Insurance \r\nRegulatory Commission jointly formulate the Several Measures for Strengthening the Reform of Business Environment for Cross-border Trade at Shanghai Port in 2021, which is hereby issued and shall be earnestly implemented.

Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce

Shanghai Customs

Shanghai Municipal Development and Reform Commission

Shanghai Municipal Finance Bureau

Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission

Shanghai Municipal Market Supervision Administration

Shanghai Municipal Tax Service, State Taxation Administration

Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration

Shanghai Office of China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission

February 26, 2021

Several Measures for Strengthening the Reform of Business Environment for Cross-border Trade at Shanghai Port in 2021

In order to implement the State Council's Regulation on Optimizing the Business Environment, the Regulation of Shanghai Municipality on Optimizing the Business Environment, and the Action\r\n Plan of Shanghai Municipality for Enhancing the Reform of System \r\nIntegration and Continuously Strengthening the Development of \r\nWorld-Class Business Environment,\r\n continue to optimize the business environment for cross-border trade in\r\n Shanghai, and further reduce costs and improve efficiency, several \r\nmeasures are hereby formulated to strengthen the reform of business \r\nenvironment for the cross-border trade at Shanghai Port in 2021 as \r\nfollows:

I. Optimizing the "Clearance and Logistics" operation process

i. The "two-step declaration" mode for imported goods will be promoted. In\r\n the first step of "essentials declaration", the companies may only fill\r\n in 9 items and confirm 2 logistics items so as to pick up the goods \r\nafter the customs complete risk management procedures; within 14 days \r\nafter picking up the goods, the second step of "full declaration" shall \r\nbe completed, and the clearance formalities such as tax payment shall be\r\n handled.

ii. The tariff payment will be further facilitated. The\r\n coverage of the policies for tariff guarantee insurance, \r\nself-declaration and self-payment, collective taxation and electronic \r\npayment will be expanded to speed up customs clearance.

iii. The declaration reservation function of the Shanghai International Trade Single Window will be promoted. The\r\n enterprises can make a declaration reservation through the Shanghai \r\nInternational Trade Single Window declaration system when other \r\ndeclaration information is ready but the manifest information has not \r\nyet been obtained. The system, which is constantly receiving manifests \r\nfrom shipping companies and shipping agencies, will match manifest \r\ninformation with reserved declaration forms, and automatically deliver \r\ndeclaration forms once matched, thus saving the time of enterprises to \r\nwait for and inquire about the manifests.

iv. The inspection rate for the advanced Authorized Economic Operators (AEO) will be optimized. The\r\n risk control arrangements will be made more targeted, the sampling \r\nrates for relevant commodities will be dynamically adjusted according to\r\n the credit ratings of the companies, and the sampling rates for \r\nrelevant commodities at ports and destinations will be set in a \r\nscientific manner.

v. The inspections without companies' presence and online checks and inspections will be promoted energetically. The\r\n inspections without companies' presence will be promoted, the companies\r\n will be encouraged to adopt the "unaccompanied inspections" or "entrust\r\n the operators of the supervised sites to be present in the \r\ninspections", in a bid to reduce costs of customs clearance and improve \r\nthe customs clearance efficiency. The "merging multiple inspections into\r\n one" will be advanced, and the frequencies of actual on-site visits and\r\n physical inspections will be reduced through remote face-to-face \r\nmeetings, video surveillance, online submission, and other means.

vi. The system of the admissible third-party inspection will be promoted. Efforts\r\n will be made to give full play to the role of the admissible \r\nthird-party inspection in enhancing the cross-border trade facilitation,\r\n and steadily expand the coverage of the commodities for the admissible \r\nthird-party inspection. With enterprises' own declaration and the \r\ninspection results of the professionally qualified inspection and \r\ntesting institutions, laboratory testing procedures can be exempted, so \r\nas to speed up customs clearance.

vii. The big data supervision of cross-border trade will be improved. Relying\r\n on the Shanghai big data platform for cross-border trade, we will \r\nfurther expand the scope of data collection in trade chains, supply \r\nchains, and logistics chains, use the big data technology to form \r\nvarious risk prevention and control models and facilitation application \r\nprojects, achieve a higher level of integration of safety and \r\nconvenience, facilitate the law-abiding enterprises in realizing rapid \r\ncustoms clearance of goods, and continuously improve the enterprises' \r\nsense of fulfillment.

viii.\r\n The operation modes of "ship-side pick-up" of imported goods and \r\n"ship-side delivery”"of exported goods will be further piloted. On\r\n the premise of ensuring the safety of production in the port area, \r\naccording to the enterprises' voluntary application, the operations of \r\n“"hip-side pick-up”"and “"hip-side delivery”"will be ensured for the \r\ngoods that meet the operating conditions, so as to provide convenience \r\nfor the enterprises in need to rapidly pick up the goods, shorten the \r\ntime of the port storage for the goods and speed up customs clearance \r\nand logistics.

II. Simplifying document requirements

ix. The attached documents requirements of customs declarations will be simplified. When\r\n the enterprises make paperless declarations through the International \r\nTrade Single Window, there is no need to submit the contract, packing \r\nlist, and manifest for in import, and the contract, invoice, packing \r\nlist, and manifest in export.

x. The procedures for reviewing customs declaration record errors will be simplified. The\r\n modified import or export dates in the "pre-arrival declaration" and \r\nthe "two-step declaration", the changed means of transportation for the \r\ngoods because of shipment, stowage, etc., and other violations that are \r\nnot caused by the subjective intention of the companies, are declared to\r\n the customs by the companies proactively and can be corrected in a \r\ntimely manner, will not be recorded as declaration errors. Those with \r\nthe declaration errors that meet the abovementioned conditions may apply\r\n for review online through the "Customs-Enterprise Online Platform" \r\nwithin 15 working days from the date of recording the customs \r\ndeclaration errors, without the need to submit paper materials on site. \r\nThe customs will conduct a review within 3 working days from the date of\r\n receipt of the application, notify the review result, and correct any \r\nrecord errors.

xi. The procedures concerning the bill of lading (B/L) will be simplified. We\r\n will encourage and call on shipping companies and shipping agents to \r\ncancel the paper letter of authorization for transferring the import \r\nB/L. The shipping companies will be encouraged to improve the efficiency\r\n in signing and issuing the export B/L and reduce the time for \r\nenterprises to the export B/L through the pilot program where the export\r\n bills of lading are signed and issued on line and are printed by \r\nenterprises on their own.

xii.\r\n The application of the electronic attached documents and automated \r\nreview for maritime dangerous goods declaration will be promoted in an \r\nall-round manner. In\r\n the import and export declaration, the system will improve the accuracy\r\n of review for dangerous goods and the efficiency of maritime review \r\nthrough document check supported by intelligent identification of the \r\nelectronic attached documents, thereby further regulating the paperless \r\ndeclaration process for the goods and saving the time for customs \r\nclearance.

III. Upgrading the port facilities

xiii. The IT platforms will be upgraded at ports. We\r\n will develop the one-stop platform for shipping business inquiry and \r\nprocessing, improve the two-way information sharing between the port \r\nbusiness acceptance system and the Shanghai International Trade Single \r\nWindow, upgrade the Shanghai Port Electronic Container Equipment \r\nInterchange Receipt Platform (eEIR) to "Version 2.0", achieve the timely\r\n disclosure of information on container storage and use, improve the \r\nsupportive services such as reservation for pick-up, provide convenience\r\n for the users to realize electronic container release and accurate \r\npick-up on a single platform, and form a service system characterized by\r\n information sharing, efficiency and coordination at Shanghai Port.

xiv. The efficiency of container trucks entering and leaving the ports will be improved. The\r\n development of smart gates will be advanced. Based on the improvement \r\nand integration of trucks' entry and exit reservation system and the \r\nmobile phone app, the comprehensive intelligent upgrading will be \r\nconducted for port gates, and efforts will be made in realizing \r\ncentralized acceptance of port gate businesses.

xv. The real-time information interchange of the customs and the port will be improved. With\r\n support of the Shanghai International Trade Single Window, the \r\nReal-time two-way interchange between supervision information such as \r\ncustoms inspection orders and port information such as cargo arrivals \r\nand departures will be realized Relying on, the efficiency of linkage \r\nbetween customs supervision and port operations will be enhanced, and \r\nthe time of imports and exports staying at port will be shortened.

xvi. Intensive and electronic distribution of seals for containers will be promoted. We\r\n will promote centralized distribution of container seals at yards and \r\nport gates, and electronic distribution on self-service seals machines, \r\nso as to improve the efficiency of obtaining and delivering seals.

IV. Regulating port charges

xvii. The publication of charge list and service information will be improved. We\r\n will optimize the publication of charge list and service information on\r\n the Shanghai International Trade Single Window, and explore value \r\ndiscovery through price comparison and condition screening; the charging\r\n entities should strengthen the management of the fee catalogues and \r\nlists, thoroughly sort out and regulate the existing lists, dynamically \r\nadjust them, and ensure that the lists are consistent with the actual \r\nsituations and there are no charges beyond the lists; the industry \r\ncompetent departments should supervise and guide the market entities to \r\npublish charge lists properly, and the publication will be included in \r\nthe enterprise integrity management.

xviii. The fee reduction measures of the state ministries and commissions will be implemented. We\r\n will strictly implement the policies and measures such as calling off \r\nport construction fees and reducing and merging port charges. We will \r\ncontinue to intensify the supervision of seaport charges, firmly \r\ninvestigate and punish according to law the charging violations such as \r\ncoercive services and charges and irregularities in menu pricing. We \r\nwill pay special attention to investigating and dealing with the \r\nfailures to implement the preferential reduction and exemption policies \r\nin the port and inspection and quarantine processes.

xix. Guidance will be provided for the shipping companies to regulate charging behaviors. We\r\n will give full play to the self-discipline role of the shipping \r\nindustry organizations, and urge shipping companies to regulate charging\r\n items and rationally adjust the structure of shipping charges. We will \r\nstrictly implement the freight rate filing system, and carry out \r\ninspections for the implementation of the freight rate filing.

xx. The supervision over charging by shipping agents and forwarders will be tightened. We\r\n will regulate the names of the charges collected by the shipping agents\r\n and forwarders and their services, promote the condensing of charging \r\nitems, and further standardize the practice of the shipping agents and \r\nforwarders in clearly marking the prices.

xxi. The management of container yards outside ports will be regulated. We\r\n will strengthen industry guidance, intensify the in-process and \r\naftermath supervision of container yards outside ports, and urge the \r\ncontainer yards to standardize the operations such as cleaning and \r\nrepairing containers and re-hoisting and regulate the charging \r\nbehaviors; we will toughen supervision and inspection, and crack down on\r\n the violations in charging according to the law.

V. Enhancing service for enterprises

xxii. The information disclosure and healthy competition in the intermediary industry will be promoted. We\r\n will announce the annual overall customs clearance time of customs \r\nbrokers to push customs brokers to improve service efficiency. We will \r\npromote the https://gzdp.tongguanbao.net (the "intermediaries' comments"\r\n network for cross-border trade), build it into a service platform for \r\nexchanges and interactions between import and export enterprises and \r\nintermediary service companies that is more comprehensive, objective, \r\nand convenient, and boost the specialized, market-based, and transparent\r\n development of the intermediary services for cross-border trade.

xxiii. The mechanisms of feedback of and assistance for companies will be improved. We\r\n will give full play to the roles of the channels such as the customs' \r\n12360 service hotline, the special survey and research system for \r\ncustoms statistics, the WeChat platform of "China Customs Credit \r\nManagement", the customs-enterprise coordinators, and the Shanghai \r\nInternational Trade Single Window hotline, so as to collect suggestions \r\nand demands of the companies, and provide targeted assistance based on \r\nthe actual needs and problems of the enterprises.

xxiv. The filing system for export tax rebate documents will be optimized. We\r\n will promote the paperless document filing and allow enterprises to \r\nindependently choose the form of document retention with approval by the\r\n tax authority.

xxv. The financing support for foreign trade enterprises will be stepped up. We\r\n will continue to implement a series of measures to strengthen the \r\ncredit support for foreign trade enterprises and stabilize the \r\nfundamentals of foreign trade, help commercial banks to set up special \r\ncredit lines for foreign trade, further reduce the financing costs for \r\nforeign trade enterprises, and ensure the stability of the foreign trade\r\n supply chain and industry chain. We will build bridges between banks \r\nand enterprises, and facilitate the access of the enterprises to \r\nfinancing settlement, small-amount credit insurance loans, and Baoyirong\r\n (insurance financing service). We will deepen the financial service \r\nfunctions of Shanghai International Trade Single Window, increase the \r\ncoverage of the companies taking out the export credit insurance, enrich\r\n the online financing products for import and export companies, and \r\nexpand the financing channels.

xxvi. Efforts will be made to give further play to the role of credit insurance. The\r\n "credit insurance + guarantee" financing model will be expanded, and \r\nthe Shanghai Policy Financing Guarantee Fund for Small, Medium and Micro\r\n Enterprises and other policy financing guarantee institutions will \r\nprovide guarantee support for eligible small and medium-sized foreign \r\ntrade enterprises. The cooperation mechanism between the government, \r\ncredit insurance institutions and business associations will be \r\nimproved, and the Shanghai branch of China Export & Credit Insurance\r\n Corporation will further step up its underwriting efforts to ensure \r\nthat all the orders with demand and the companies with potential are \r\ninsured. We will prioritize the settlement of the insurance claims made \r\nby the companies affected by the coronavirus pandemic. On the premise \r\nthat the authenticity of the trade is undoubtedly clear, we will focus \r\non verifying the trade background and the amount of creditor's rights, \r\nappropriately relax the requirements for claims settlement, and launch \r\nthe procedures of loss determination and compensation first.

xxvii. The publicity and implementation of the reform policies will be strengthened. We\r\n will give full play to the role of the industry associations such as \r\nthe customs brokers associations, freight forwarders associations, \r\nshipping companies' associations, and port federations, take full \r\nadvantage of the platforms such as the Shanghai International Trade \r\nSingle Window, extensively promote and interpret the policies, and raise\r\n the awareness of the policies; and we will select a number of typical \r\ncases for promotion among enterprises, and encourage more companies to \r\nput them into use.