"In 2019, the overall import clearance time of our customs was 13.97 hours, and exports took 2.16 hours, far below than national averages," said a customs officer of Beijing E-town. The overall clearance time includes times of goods arriving at the port and logistics. Actually, the clearance of goods at customs takes only a few minutes; in some cases only a few seconds. Such an achievement results from the optimized business environment and considerate services provided by Beijing E-town customs which greatly pushes forward services that are intelligent, paperless and convenient. 

Enterprises can declare at their offices

Thanks to digitalized customs clearance, enterprises can complete applications for goods clearance on the internet, which not only significantly saves manpower and cost but also speeds up the approval process. The paperless declaration of Beijing E-town has now reached 100 percent, enabling enterprises to make their declarations from their offices.

Besides, Beijing E-town customs has set up a six-in-one regulatory service model for inspection of imported commodities to further optimize the clearance process. The model covers import goods direct release, enterprise tax reduction, AEO enterprise certification, container remote precision control, 24 hour video surveillance and construction of a demonstration zone for quality and safety of export automobile products.

The new model saves costs of 12 million yuan ($1.86 m) per year and improves capital turnover efficiency by nearly 1 billion yuan.

Considerate services reduces costs for enterprises

In recent years, Beijing E-town customs has been providing considerate services to help enterprises reduce costs. In 2019, it supported LG Chem to develop an outsourcing processing business, which slashed logistics costs and time. "It helps us save 1.5 million yuan annually and reduces the production cycle by at least three days," said an executive of LG Chem. 

Actually, there are many similar cases. Beijing E-town customs also supported Sumitomo Chemical Co., LTD and SMC Corporation to operate a scrap auction, reducing transaction costs for these companies. In addition, it helps the development of the automobile industry and companies related to aerospace and health to save annual costs of more than 1 million yuan.

Take part in the construction of national first-class comprehensive bonded zone

At present, Beijing E-town customs is pushing forward intelligent customs clearance, paperless customs clearance and convenient supervision on customs clearance. It will promote national customs integration in an advance declaration mode and further push forward paperless declaration, a "single window" for international trade, and the application of paperless declarations for tax reduction in order to accelerate customs clearance for goods.  

Beijing E-town customs will actively take part in the construction of the comprehensive free trade zone (FTZ) based on the city's development plan and the FTZ's development orientation.

According to the plan, Beijing E-town customs will participate in the construction of the Beijing E-town comprehensive bonded zone to grow it into the highest-class comprehensive bonded zone in the nation. In the next step, Beijing E-town customs will further push ahead reform, enableing local places to benefit in terms of national customs integration, tax reduction, paperless declaration and processing trade supervision.