Recently, the General Office of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ("AQSIQ") has distributed the Circular on Further Promoting the Sound Development of Enterprises of Foreign Trade Integrated Services (the "Circular").
The Circular states that for pilot enterprises of foreign trade integrated services as approved by the Ministry of Commerce ("MOFCOM"), more supporting measures in respect of inspection and quarantine will be put forward on the basis of the pilot program carried out in the early stage, including seven initiatives such as "exploring ways to set up green path for inspection regulation", "optimizing and improving credit administrative measures" and "supporting the response to technical measures to trade". Further, the Circular explicitly sets forth that efforts will be made to integrate the inspection, quarantine and customs clearance business across the whole nation, and make imported and exported goods of eligible enterprises of foreign trade integrated services directly go through the customs; the paperless application for inspection and quarantine will be promoted in all aspects, while the inspection and quarantine that is made paperless throughout the whole processes will be carried out on a trial basis. Moreover, the Circular calls for urging small and medium sized as well as micro enterprises to make full use of preferential policies on certificate of origin in order to enjoy tariff preferences granted by foreign countries, supporting enterprises of foreign trade integrated services to engage in maintenance, re-manufacturing, outsourcing of international services, etc. and implementing preferential policies in this regard.