The Chinese Catalogue of Entry-Exit Commodities Inspected and Quarantined by the Competent Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Authority (hereinafter as the “Catalogue of Inspection and Quarantine”) was originally drawn up to comply with the United Nations’ Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding Systems (HS). This Catalogue is based on multiple provisions regarding the China Import and Export Commodity Inspection Law, the Food Safety Law of China and the State Council Decree 591, and it shall embody the annual tariff and/or tariff category adjustment of the Customs Tariff Commission Office under the State Council and the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

On 29 December 2011, a joint notice on the 2012 adjustment to the Catalog of Inspection and Quarantine was first published by AQSIQ and GAC. It specifically focused on the adjustment of customs regulatory conditions. On 31 December 2011, another AQSIQ Notice No. 1466 of 2011 reiterated the implementation of the adjustment of the Catalog of Entry-Exit Commodities (2012 version), in which all the listed commodities subject to the entry-exit inspection were grouped in three Annexes, namely:

• Annex 1: Adjustment List regarding Customs Regulatory Conditions under the Catalogue of Inspection and Quarantine (2012)

• Annex 2: Adjustment List regarding Inspection and Quarantine Types under the Catalogue of Inspection and Quarantine (2012)

• Annex 3: List of Banned Commodities for Import or Export under the Catalogue of Inspection and Quarantine (2012)

Annex 1 contains in all 246 affected commodities. Among them, 160 hazardous chemicals are collected from the 2002 Chinese C&L Inventory (Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals), which are required to apply new customs regulatory conditions and corresponding inspection and quarantine types designated by the AQSIQ Notice 1466-2011,as of 1 February 2012. Annex 2 and 3 list non-chemical commodities such as electrical and wooden products. At present, concerned chemicals in Annex 1 can be searched in the Chemlinked Inventory Toolbox. If your concerned product is listed in, the search page will provide free download for basic chemical information plus industry compliance advice.

Detailed modifications in Annex 1 of the 2012 Catalogue of Inspection and Quarantine are shown as below:

• Commodities defined in 13 HS codes regarding food additives now have their “regulatory conditions” changed from empty to A&B and the “inspection & quarantine type” changed into R&S;

• Commodities of 9 HS codes that are banned for the use of food additives now have their “regulatory conditions” changed from empty to A and the “inspection & quarantine type” changed into M. When imported, product in this category must be marked with a warning statement like “Prohibited for Food Processing” on its outer package.

• Commodities of 160 HS codes regarding hazardous chemicals are updated for “regulatory conditions” and “inspection & quarantine types”: sulfurs and 133 other chemicals shift from empty to A&B and M&N; phthalic anhydride from A to A&B and M&N; antimony powder and 3 other chemicals from B to A&B and M&N; hydrofluoric acid and 18 other chemicals shift from empty to A and M; potassium chlorate and non-cleaning agent carbon tetrachloride shift from empty to B and N.

• Commodities of 70 HS codes regarding primary products of rare earth shift in the areas of “regulatory condition” and “inspection & quarantine type” from empty to B and N.

Customs regulatory conditions

• A stands for “to impose entry inspection and quarantine on the concerned goods”;

• B stands for “to impose exit inspection and quarantine on the concerned goods”.

Inspection & quarantine types

• M stands for “for imported general goods”;

• N stands for “for exported general goods”;

• R stands for “for imported food products”;

• S stands for “for exported food products”.