The General Administration of Customs ("GAC") has recently issued the Announcement on Standardizing Administration of the Registration of Cross-border E-commerce Payment Enterprises (the "Announcement").
The Announcement expressly states that, from the date the Announcement is released, a cross-border e-commerce payment enterprise shall submit the certificate of relevant qualification, while going through formalities for the establishment registration or information registration with the customs. In particular, banking institutions that offer cross-border e-commerce payment services shall submit the photocopy of their respective Financial License issued by the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CBIRC") or by the original China Banking Regulatory Commission ("CBRC"), while non-banking payment institutions are required to submit the photocopy of their own License for Payment Business issued by the People's Bank of China ("PBC"), on which the scope of payment business shall include the "internet-based payment". Moreover, the Announcement notes that, where a cross-border e-commerce payment enterprise has handled formalities for the establishment registration or information registration with the customs before the issue date of this Announcement, it shall additionally provide the local customs office with the relevant qualification certificate before May 31, 2018; if it fails to provide the additionally requested material, its information as a cross-border e-commerce payment enterprise, retained at the customs office, will no longer be valid.