Gongbei Customs released 16 measures on May 12 to boost stable and high-quality foreign trade development, providing solutions for pressing problems like unsmooth logistics flow, as well as blocked industrial and supply chains. 

Cross-boundary logistics efficiency between Guangdong and Hong Kong will be further improved with the implementation of a fully transship model for border-crossing trucks, which will ensure clearance of key materials. Cargo for imports and exports can be declared in advance to ensure fast clearance of materials urgently needed by enterprises. 

Quarantine and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and detection reagents will be accelerated with priority inspections, allowing these products to go through document reviews and on-site inspection within 24 hours.

Gongbei Customs has been focused on helping foreign trade enterprises within its jurisdiction of Zhuhai and Zhongshan cities since 2022 and have paid 167 on-site visits to major enterprises this year. It also collects enterprises' problems via the customs' hotline 12360.

Customs offices pay an on-site visit to a local enterprise [Photo courtesy Guanhai App] 

It has promoted the self-printing of certificate of origins and deepened routine supervision over enterprises registered to manufacture products for the Hong Kong and Macao markets. For exports with a value less than $1,000 or that weigh under 50 kilograms, convenient services like automatic inspection and quarantine document review, as well as the fast issuing of electronic ledger will be available. 

Notably, the total import and export volume handled by Gongbei Customs in the first four months of the year increased by 26.6 percent year-on-year to 173.51 billion yuan ($25.52 billion).

Efforts have also been made to increase import and export clearance efficiency. Measures like 24-hour H986 cargo inspection, reduction of processing time to enable immediate on-site filing for food production enterprises, as well as opening green channels for the territorial inspection of fresh and perishable agricultural food products to facilitate their rapid customs clearance.

In addition, average import and export clearance time in the areas under the jurisdiction of Gongbei Customs during the January-March period this year was 5.84 and .55 hours respectively, both ranking among the best times nationwide.