The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce (FCCC) organized a webinar focused on 'Belgian Customs and its activities in China' on 21 February 2023.
Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce, introduced the two speakers, Ms Isabelle Bedoyan, Counsellor and Customs Attaché, and Ms Annabelle Schreiber, Agricultural Attaché at the Embassy of Belgium in China. 2022 has been a turbulent year. This year will certainly be very different, the Year of the Rabbit started very promising. China having lifted all the Covid restrictions on January 8 and reopening its economy means new business opportunities for our members, more exports and more investments. We are now able to travel to China again to attend trade fairs and companies who postponed investments in China are on the road again to open new factories in China.
The Chinese government identified stabilizing economic growth as one of China's top priorities for this year. Looking at the longer term, however, Morgan Stanley predicted that the reopening would allow China to reach an economic growth of 5% in 2023 compared to 3% in 2022. Flanders' exports to China from January to November 2022 declined by 6%, the backlash of the atypical rise of pharmaceuticals in the corona-year of 2020. Flanders' exports to China reached €6.13 billion, while imports from China to Flanders reached almost €30 billion, which was an increase of almost 50%. The main exports from Flanders to China were chemicals and pharmaceuticals; machines, appliances and electronic equipment; and plastics. The main import products from China to Flanders were machines, appliances and electronic equipment; transport equipment; chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Procedures and regulations of the Chinese customs and other institutions related to import or export were introduced by Ms Isabelle Bedoyan, Counsellor and Customs Attaché at the Embassy of Belgium in China. Ms. Bedoyan has been based in China since 2018 and has been a Customs Attaché since 2008. She covers mainland China, but also Hong Kong and Macao, which still are separate customs territories with separate legislation. She is developing strong ties with local customs administrations and focusses on trade facilitation, as well as compliance and the fight against fraud. Belgian Customs only has a few attachés abroad in Brazil, India, Indonesia and China.
(https://finance.belgium.be/en/representation-abroad)
A Customs Attaché has four main tasks:
• Trade facilitation and assistance to economic operators and individuals is an important task in Beijing. We assist and inform investors and economic operators trading with China, focussing on import and export information, with an emphasis on prevention and helping to understand the customs regulations. We can also provide assistance in case of blocked shipments, but the priority is to avoid such situations. The Attaché is also an intermediary between Belgian operators and Chinese customs. We can offer expertise and our network, but we are not lawyers nor customs brokers, and we will always operate in respect of national laws and local authorities.
• Representing Belgian Customs in China and building a professional network, and having regular contacts with Chinese counterparts and international and EU Customs Attachés.
• Representing Belgian Customs at international events, such as the Belgian Economic Mission in November 2019.
• Fight against fraud.
Attention points in China:
• Information and prevention is key, because you will encounter language and cultural barriers. There are some time-consuming procedures you need to do before you import and there is some paperwork at the border. Legislation can change quite fast. China Customs has become a true gate keeper.
• Many different scenario's: exports, production in China, sourcing from China, accessing tenders, and Chinese investments in Belgium.
Important basics:
• The main player for Customs clearance is the General Administration of Customs (GACC), which is a full ministerial agency and has taken over the former responsibilities of AQSIC, such as quarantine and registration of overseas manufacturers of imported food. GACC had a tough time during the past three years of Covid, having to deal with the disinfection of goods and with arriving passengers.
• Other important administrations include the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR) and the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Affairs (MARA).
The commodity code is very important for the procedures you need to follow and the taxes you have to pay. The international harmonized system has only 6 digits, but is revised every five years. New codes were introduced in January 2022. The Chinese customs commodity code is based on the international one, but after the integration of AQSIC has 13 digits.
VAT-rates on imported goods have decreased over the last year with a minimum rate of 9% and a maximum of 13%. A consumption tax is applicable on particular categories of products such as tobacco, alcohol, cosmetics and luxury goods. There are also different rates of import duties, for example when you export from countries that have a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China. Some key technical equipment, products and raw materials can be exempt of duty and VAT.
Companies exporting technical goods will need a China Compulsory Certification (CCC), comparable to the CE marking in Europe. It covers more than 150 types of products. China Customs has invested quite some time and money in the single window for Customs, combining information from different ministries. For those sourcing in China, SPEAC provides information and training programs to help Chinese manufacturers sell safely in the EU.
There were many Covid-policies for incoming goods in 2022, which have now been stopped, but there is still an awareness for epidemic threats and the traceability of food products has increased. This may be a legacy of the Covid period.
The economic support team of Belgium Customs:
email: da.mf.es@minfin.be ; website: https://finance.belgium.be/en/customs_excises
Ms Annabelle Schreiber, Agricultural Attaché at the Embassy of Belgium in China, talked about the support given by FASFC to local companies when exporting to China. She arrived in Beijing in 2021. The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) is the Belgian competent authority for animal and plant health and for food safety. It implements European legislation in Belgium and performs import checks in designated border control posts. It also issues export certificates for all commodities in the food chain. The main contact point are the local units.
FASFC in China negotiates on health certificates and SPS market access. Currently there are 10 ongoing access files. FASFC also accompanies Belgian companies in their registration process in CIFER. The Belgian Agricultural Attaché for food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) related measures is not in charge of agricultural and economic aspects, which are the competence of the regions. The Attaché is in charge of market access files, embargoes, and SPS issues with imported consignments, and the implementation of collaboration protocols.
A Q&A session concluded the webinar.
