On November 30, the Ministry of Commerce of PRC published the “Circular on Improving the Supervision of Cross-border E-Commerce Retail Import” announcement. New regulation was developed to improve the post-transition policy and promote the healthy development of CBEC retail import.
Summary of new CBEC regulation is as follows:
1.Cross-Border E-Commerce Retail Import Definition
CBEC retail import refers to the consumption behaviour of Chinese consumers who purchase goods from abroad through 3rd party platform operators of CBEC and transport them into the country through net-purchasing bonded import (B2B2C) or direct purchasing of import (B2C).
2. CBEC Retail Import Participants
- CBEC enterprises – overseas registered enterprises that sell cross-border e-commerce retail imports to domestic consumers from abroad; brand owners.
- CBEC platforms – CBEC third-party platform operators registered in China
- Domestic service providers – service providers registered in China that accept the entrustment of CBEC enterprises to provide declaration, payment, logistics, warehousing and other services
- Consumers: domestic purchases of CBEC retail import
3. List of Retail Import
CBEC retail import must belong to the “List of Retail Import of Cross-Border E-Commerce” (please check the list in Chinese here) and is limited to the conditions of personal use.
4. CBEC Enterprise Responsible Agent in China
CBEC enterprises shall have a responsible agent (an entity registered in China) that shall accept the responsibility of truthful declaration and bear joint liabilities together with the CBEC enterprise.
5. Customs Filing
CBEC enterprises shall perform filing with customs through an entity in China – either the responsible agent in China, CBEC platform or domestic service providers can assist CBEC enterprises with the data submission to the customs.
6. Protection of Consumer Rights and Interests
CBEC enterprises shall be responsible for product information, goods return and exchange services, establishment of recall systems and compensation mechanisms. Recalls must be carried out in a timely manner when there is a safety or quality risk.
7. Consent Form and Chinese Electronic Labels
CBEC enterprises must remind consumers of risk in a consent form manner which contains the following:
- The products meet the quality, safety, hygiene, environmental protection and labelling standards of the country of origin that may differ from the ones applied in China. Consumers bear the relevant risk themselves.
- The products sent directly to the consumers may not have Chinese labelling. In this case consumers should be able to view the Chinese electronic labels of the products through the website.
- Goods purchased by consumers are for personal use only and may not be re-sold.
8. Risk Prevention and Control Management System
CBEC enterprises shall establish risk prevention and control mechanisms of product quality and safety, including quality management of goods, quality control in warehouse, supplier management, etc.
9. Quality Traceability System
CBEC enterprises shall establish the quality traceability system that should cover at least the complete logistics trajectory from the foreign departure destination to the domestic consumers, and encourage upstream traceability to overseas shippers and commodity producers.
Enterprises that do not meet the regulatory requirements of the new CBEC circular are granted with a grace period and allowed to continue to implement the regulatory arrangements during the transition period by March 31, 2019.
Please see the published official announcement in Chinese on the Ministry of Commerce website here .