The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has recently issued the Announcement [2018] No.195 to further regulate customs inspections. This announcement will take effect from January 1, 2019.
The announcement states that, where it is necessary for the customs to duplicate relevant materials of the inspected party during an ongoing inspection, the legal representative or the principal of the inspected party or a representative designated by it, shall clearly specify the sources, the number of pages, the time of duplication, and the phase reading "This document has been verified as identical with the original", and sign and stamp the document, after he or she has confirmed that the duplicate is identical with the original. In the event that relevant materials need to be translated, the inspected party shall provide the translated versions in line with the customs' requirements which shall be affixed with the official seal of the translation agency or signed by the translator. In addition, the announcement clarifies that, in drawing or collecting samples, the customs shall fill out the Sample Drawing/Collection Certificate of the Customs of the People's Republic of China which will be then signed by inspectors and signed and stamped by the representative of the inspected party. Moreover, the announcement expressly states that, the customs shall complete the Inspection Records after the completion of an inspection, and such Inspection Records, once verified error-free by both sides, shall be signed by inspectors and signed and stamped by representatives of inspected party.