In order to implement the series of decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and State Council on promoting the recovery and improvement of foreign trade, and conform to the reform of the quality inspection authority on ‘separating the functions of supervision and operations’, the market-oriented inspection system will be implemented on foreign aid material supplies (hereinafter referred to as ‘foreign aid materials’) from January 1st, 2017. It is hereby announced as follows:

1. Inspection of materials subject to statutory inspection

Products that fall in the Catalogue of Entry-exit Commodities Inspected and Quarantined by the Competent Entry-exit Inspection and Quarantine Authorities and foreign aid materials required by laws and administrative regulations to be inspected and quarantined by competent inspection and quarantine authorities (hereinafter referred to as ‘materials subject to statutory inspection’) shall be inspected and quarantined for export subject to applicable national laws and regulations and corresponding working procedures.

2. Inspection of materials beyond the range of statutory inspection

Foreign aid materials beyond the range of statutory inspection will be inspected on a market-oriented basis by non-government inspection institutions independently commissioned by entities carrying out foreign aid projects. In principle, the basic principles of ‘inspection in place of origin, verification before shipment and loading supervision in ports’ shall be followed. After the inspection in the place of origin is passed, the inspection institution shall issue a third-party certificate to the entity carrying out the foreign aid project; and after the verifications before shipment and loading supervision in ports are passed, the inspection institution shall issue inspection reports to the entity carrying out foreign aid projects, which shall be filed with the competent authority of foreign aid projects for the records. After the inspection in the place of origin and the verifications before shipment and loading supervision in ports for all materials are passed, and upon the issue of inspection reports by the inspection institution, the materials shall be accepted, released and shipped out of the country.

Any of the following foreign aid materials can be exempted from inspection:

(1) Humanitarian and emergency aid materials;
(2) Materials supplied by a single entity with an accumulative total value not exceeding RMB 100,000 (unless otherwise specified by any procurement document);
(3) Parts and components provided for finished and complete foreign aid projects;
(4) Construction machinery, equipment and materials for construction and materials for temporary facilities under complete foreign aid projects, the ownership of which belongs to the general contractors of such projects;
(5) Foreign aid materials that are produced abroad and procured by the domestic agent of the producers or domestic distributors under the mode of ‘re-export after import’;
(6) Foreign aid materials determined by competent authorities of foreign aid projects in accordance with applicable regulations to have quality with the guaranteed conditions, and to be in no need of inspection; and
(7) Other foreign aid materials that can be exempted from quality inspection due to the requirements of foreign work or the special characteristics of the products.

3. Selection of non-government inspection institutions

For materials beyond the range of statutory inspection, entities carrying out foreign aid projects shall select inspection institutions to undertake the tasks of commodity inspection, which shall meet the following basic conditions:

(1) Chinese funded institutions registered in the People’s Republic of China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) with independent capacity for civil liability;
(2) Possessing licenses for involvement in the inspection and appraisal of import and export commodities in accordance with the Law of The People's Republic of China on Import and Export Commodity Inspection;
(3) Possessing CNAS Certification and the CMA Metrological Accreditation qualification recognized by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment, competent quality supervision departments at the provincial level or above and the industrial review team of China Metrology Accreditation;
(4) Possessing operation systems certification from ISO/IEC17020 inspection organizations;
(5) Establishing branches or laboratories in main provinces and major ports where the inspection of foreign aid materials is carried out, and undertaking to provide corresponding inspection and testing services in the place of origin or procurement where inspections and tests are required.
Details of conditions for the selection of non-government institutions shall be otherwise determined by the competent project management authority based on specific cases of foreign aid projects.

4. Customs examination and release

Entities carrying out foreign aid projects shall submit the Notification of Foreign Assistance Project (issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the leading team of inter-ministerial working mechanism for emergent aids or the project management authority) for handling the formalities of declaration, examination and release. The mode of regulation is ‘foreign aid materials’ (code: 3511) and the entities can be exempted from submitting the export license.

5. Working mechanism for coordination of inspection, examination and release

In order to serve entities carrying out foreign aid projects in a better way and assist in the inspection, examination and release of foreign aid materials, the Ministry of Commerce, General Administration of Customs and State Administration for Quality Supervision and Inspection and Quarantine (hereinafter referred to as ‘AQSIQ’) will continue to reserve and improve the relevant working mechanism for the coordination of the inspection, examination and release of foreign aid materials, and jointly develop solutions for major issues. In case of any major quality or safety-related issues concerning foreign aid materials, the Ministry of Commerce and AQSIQ shall conduct joint investigations and impose penalties in accordance with relevant regulations. Where any entity carrying out foreign aid projects conducts any act in serious violation of any law or regulation, such as avoiding the supervision of customs authorities or departing while carrying non-foreign aid materials without notice, the local supervision authority of customs will report the circumstances to the working mechanism for the coordination of inspection, examination and release through the General Administration of Customs, and impose penalties on entities in violation according to the relevant regulations.

For details, please contact the Ministry of Commerce of the foreign aid project management authority.

Contact numbers:
Department of Foreign Assistance: 010-85093550; Agency for International Economic Cooperation: 010-68108030; China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchange: 010-84000707.

MOFCOM, GACC and AQSIQ
December 30^th, 2016