The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has recently issued the announcement [2018] No.106 to provide clarity on matters concerning the issue of Chinese certificate of origin and the Kimberley Process certificate.
The announcement provides that the administrative department in charge of Chinese certificates of origin and the Kimberley Process certificates will be the GAC, instead of the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ("AQSIQ"), and issue agencies will be all customs offices directly affiliated to the GAC, rather than the previous exit-entry inspection and quarantine institutions in all regions; also, the new version of the certificate of origin affixed with the new seal will be officially rolled out and used, beginning from August 20, 2018, and certificates of origin of the previous version, issued by former inspection and quarantine institutions before August 20 will remain valid. In addition, the Announcement notes that, there will be 22 types of certificates of origin, including one type of the Non-Preferential Certificate of Origin, one type of the GSP certificate of origin, fourteen types of the certificate of origin under the preferential trade agreement, six types of the certificate of origin for agricultural products exported to European union and others, and the Kimberley Process certificate. The capitalized letters "AQSIQ" on the anti-counterfeit stamp on the previous certificate of origin will be replaced by the emblem of the Chinese Customs, and the capitalized letters "AQSIQ" will also be removed from the printed serial number on the bottom left corner of the former certificate, and the format, content and back-page notes, of the certificate will remain the same as before.