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Customs Information for Import to Shanghai 2009

Import Information - Expatriates & Returning Chinese with Foreign Long Term Residence Permit
Documents and Procedure For Customs clearance
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Original Passport (For Taiwan Residence, Taibao Zheng; For HongKong Residence, HK ID+Tong Xing Zheng) Original Work Permit (validity should be 12 months or above, No hotel address on the Work Permit) Original Residence Permit (validity should be 12 months or above) Accompanying spouses with status family member in the residence permit validity should be 12 months or above) are able to import a small sea shipments as well. Clearance Procedure in Shanghai is a two-step process: -Import Permit application with your original documents: 2 3 business days import permit has to be applied at the place of issuance of residence permit. Asian Tigers will assist you to obtain the import permit if the residence permit is issued in Shanghai. Import permit if done outside of Shanghai will be chargeable depending on the location or client / company may apply directly. -Customs clearance: 5 15 work days for air; 5-10 work days for sea shipment. The estimate is based on the assumption that the original documents are available at or before the shipments arrival. Due to the upcoming Expo 2010, Chinese Customs has conducted 100% physical inspection for all inbound shipments.

Import Restrictions and Special Requirements


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Each client is allowed to import one sea and one air shipment, and air/sea shipments must arrive and apply import permits at the same time otherwise the second shipment to arrive may be subject to 100% duties/taxes. For a small air shipment within 350Kgs gross, we can arrange priority clearance with color copy of passport photo page, valid L/F visa page(at least 3 months) and latest entry stamp page. The air shipment can be arranged to arrive in Shanghai right after the clients arrival (without work and residence permit). If the first air shipment has been arranged priority clearance, the second sea shipment will only be charged normal import duty. Each client can bring only one set of golf clubs duty fee (13 clubs); Prohibited items :billiard table / pool table, baby grand & grand pianos; satellite antenna / receiver; fresh or perishable food items; plants; photocopy machines; weapon including knife, vehicle using gas; any items that are detrimental to the social, cultural or moral value of China. Undesirable items would be confiscated / destroyed without any explanation. For food import, only canned and vacuumed packed food is allowed. We recommend there are no food items in the air shipment, which will cause additional inspection by customs/quarantine division and may delay the clearance. Only a small quantity of food for personal consumption is allowed. eg. 2 or 3 cartons for a sea shipment. No fresh, dairy or perishables; No live animals, meat, vegetables or fresh milk; No animal derived food such as milk powder, egg, milk and marine products; No chicken essence, beef or chicken extract. For all items: Only a reasonable quantity for personal use should be imported. Customs can request additional explanation letters / documentation, if they think the items are of commercial quantity (e.g. 3 x TV sets, 3 x computers, etc.)

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Import Duties
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Chinese Customs will assess import duties on the dutiable items. We can provide a rough estimate on the duties involved, based on the packing list / survey list. Customs discretion will be final. Please review duties of common dutiable items as below for reference.
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Furniture; Food eg, size of PC monitor, Jet or Laser printer, volume of fridge,etc)

10% of customs assessed value

Lamps & light fixtures; Electrical items detailed declaration required 20% of customs assessed value

If electrical items are to be included in the air shipment to be cleared via priority clearance, only one for each type is allowed. For example: only 1 set of stereo, 1 set of computer
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Alcohol Maximum 30 bottles are allowed) If alcohol percentage is below 12%: If alcohol percentage is 12% or above

50% of customs assessed value RMB 50.00/bottle RMB 250.00/bottle

Golf Club 13 Clubs duty free for Expatriates and 1 club duty free for returning Chinese without Foreign Residence Permit CD, cassette tapes, LP and other audio items:

RMB 240.00/club (Maximum 2 sets for each shipment)

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about RMB 12 /Disc 300 pieces are duty free.

DVD, VCD, Video tapes and other video items such as Game console: about RMB 12/disc 200 pieces are duty free.

If CD, DVD, VCD etc are to be included in the air shipment to be cleared via priority clearance, the total discs must be below 100pcs with first 20 dics duty free. Any extra will be confiscated by Shanghai customs.
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Books:

about RMB 6/book

Reasonable amount is allowed to be included in the shipment, eg. 400books for FCL shipment duty free If books are to be included in the air shipment to be cleared via priority clearance, the total books must be below 50 with first 10 books duty free. The extra will be confiscated by Shanghai customs.

Import Information - Returning Chinese without Foreign Long Term Residence Permit
Documents and procedure to clear customs
Chinese Passport with foreign visa and latest entry stamp (For sea shipment, original passport is required. Visa has to match the origin country of your shipment as stated on the AWB, e.g., if you hold a US Visa, but your goods arrive from France, customs may not allow the import; Returning Chinese must have lived abroad for more than 1 year, which can be verified on the passport.) For sea shipment, following additional documents are also needed: Original endorsed China Customs Baggage Declaration Form for both air and sea shipment Copy of company's business license with company's stamp (The company the Returning Chinese working for ) Original Company's employment letter (The company the Returning Chinese working for ) Explanation Letter needs to be handwritten in Chinese by the shipper. For shipper entering from Hong Kong -- Orig. "Tong Xing Zheng" Customs clearance: 5 15 work days for air; 5-10 work days for sea shipment The estimate is based on original documents being available upon the shipments arrival. Due to the upcoming Expo 2010, Chinese Customs has conducted 100% physical inspection for all inbound shipments.

Import Restrictions and Special Requirements


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Restriction for air shipments: There should be no food in air shipment. Maximum 50 pieces Books (10 books duty free) and

maximum 100 pieces CD/DVDs (20 pieces duty free). If books more than 50 pieces or/and CD/DVDS more than 100 pieces, those extra books and CD/DVDs will be confiscated by Shanghai customs.
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Restriction for sea shipments: Explanation letters and special approval required if there are books more than 10 pieces (10 books

duty free), CD and DVD more than 20 pieces (20 pieces duty free), furniture and upright piano. The explanation letter needs to be as detailed as possible, stating the place purchased, numbers and title of books/discs (China or abroad), and if books are related to work / study.
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There has been a ban on import on furniture for returning Chinese always, though import can be tried with explanation letter.

Special approval needs to be obtained from senior customs official. The customs might ask the client to go to customs office to explain in person.

Import Duties:

Import duties regulation for returning Chinese is almost the same as those for expatriates. Pleaser refer to the import

duties information mentioned above.

For any other question or problem, please feel free to contact Ms Jenny Xu Move Coordinator Manager, Shanghai Tel: +86 21 3209 5561-12 Fax: +86 21 3209 5560 Email: jenny.xu@asiantigers-china.com
ASIAN TIG ERS K. C. DAT (CHIN A) LTD. 8F, Asionics Technology Building, 1279 Zhong Shan West Road, Shanghai 200051, China.
Tel: (86 21) 3209 3496, 3209 5561 Fax: (86 21) 3209 5560

E-mail: General.sha@AsianTigers-China.com

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