Regulation of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of the Import and Export of Good

Article 16 When allocating quotas, the administrative departments of import quotas shall take the following elements into consideration: 
1. the performances of the applicant in import; 
2. whether the quotas in the past have been fully used; 
3. the productive capacity, management scale and the sales of the applicant; 
4. the applications filed by new import business operators; 
5. the quantity of quotas applied; 
6. other elements that need to be considered. 

Article 17 An import business operator shall present the quotas certificate issued by the administrative departments of import quotas to the customs offices for handling the formalities of customs declaration and examination. The relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council shall report such information as the total amount of quotas of the year, the plans of allocation, the issuance of quota certificates, etc to the foreign trade department of the State Council for archivist purposes. 

Article 18 A holder of quotas who has not used up its quotas for the year shall return the unused quotas to the administrative departments of import quotas prior to September 1 of the current year. In case it fails to return the unused quotas and fails to use them up by the end of the current year, the administrative departments of import quotas may make corresponding deductions to the quotas of the holder for the next year. 

Article 19 For the goods limited in importation that are subject to the administration of licenses, the import business operators shall file applications to the foreign trade department of the State Council or relevant departments of the State Council (hereinafter referred to as the administrative departments of import licenses). The administrative departments of import licenses shall decide whether to grant a license or not within 30 days after receiving the application. 

The import business operators shall present the import license issued by the administrative departments of import quotas to the customs office for handling the formalities of customs declaration and examination. 

The term "import license" as mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall refer to the various kinds of certificates and documents that are of import nature as provided in laws and administrative regulations. 

Article 20 The administrative departments of import quotas and the administrative departments of export licenses shall, on the basis of the provisions of the present Regulation, formulate specific measures of administration so as to clarify the qualifications of the applicant, the departments for accepting applications, the principles and procedures of inspections, etc. and shall promulgate the measures prior to their implementation. 

The department for accepting applications shall, as a general rule, be one department. 

The documents requested by the administrative departments of import quotas and the administrative departments of import licenses for submission shall be limited to those documents and materials that are necessary for effecting the administration and the departments may not refuse to accept the applications under the pretext of trifle, immaterial mistakes or errors. 

Section III Goods Subject to Free Importation

Article 21 The goods subject to free importation shall not be limited. 

Article 22 The foreign trade department of the State Council and the relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council may, on the basis of the demand for monitoring the importation of goods, exercise automatic import license administration over some of the goods subject to free importation according to the functions and duties determined by the State Council. 

The list of goods that are under automatic import license administration shall be promulgated at no later than 21 days prior to its implementation. 

Article 23 The import of goods that are under automatic import license administration shall be allowed. 

Article 24 When importing the goods that are under automatic import license administration, the import business operators shall, prior to handling the formalities of customs declaration, file an application to the foreign trade department of the State Council or the relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council for automatic import licenses. 

The foreign trade department of the State Council or the relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council shall issue automatic import licenses immediately after receiving the applications; if the circumstances are special, the time space shall no longer than 10 days. 
The import business operators shall present the automatic import license issued by the foreign trade department of the State Council or the relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council to the customs offices for handling the formalities of customs declaration. Section IV Goods under the Administration of Tariff Quotas.

Article 25 The list of goods that are under the administration of tariff quotas shall be formulated, adjusted and promulgated by the foreign trade department of the State Council in collaboration with the relevant economic administrative departments of the State Council. 

Article 26 For the goods imported within the tariff quotas, the tariffs shall be levied according to the rates within the quotas; for the goods imported beyond the tariff quotas, the tariffs shall be levied according to the rates beyond the quotas. 
Article 27 The administrative departments of import quotas shall publicize the total amount of quotas for the next year between September 15 and October 14 of each year. 

An applicant for quotas shall file its applications to the administrative departments of import quotas between October 15 and October 30 of each year. 

Article 28 The tariff quotas may be allocated according to the principle of uniform handling of all applications. 

Article 29 Where the tariff quotas are allocated according to the principle of uniform handling of all applications, the administrative department of import quotas shall decide whether to grant quotas or not before December 31 of each year. 

Article 30 The import business operators shall present its certificate of tariff quotas issued by the administrative departments of import tariff quotas to the customs offices for handling the formalities of customs declaration and examination of the goods within the tariff quotas.