Deputy Director Huang Yi of the Customs Clearance Department of China Customs said that this move will greatly support and push forward local export.

Starting from April 1 this year, paperless Customs clearance service will expand from Qingdao Customs of Shandong Province and Shanghai Customs to the eight commercial ports of Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, Hanzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province, Ningbo City in Zhejiang, Shenzhen and Gongbei in Guangdong Province. In June, the service will cover more areas in China.

Paperless Customs clearance service allows enterprises to make on-line Customs declarations while the Customs officials check on-line all manifestations and related materials. The service was first introduced in Qingdao Customs and Shanghai Customs on March 1.

According to Qingdao Customs, it now takes five minutes when previously it took an average two hours to go through Customs clearance procedures, with no added delays in case of problems. The service reduces costs both for Customs and enterprises for fees like Customs declarations, travel expenses, and agency fees.

Deputy Director Huang Yi said China Customs is working to simplify Customs procedures and reform its own management to better promote the healthy development of foreign trade. In the near future its efficiency will be calculated by minutes, instead of hours or days, he said.

(From China News Service and translated by Guo Xiaohong for china.org.cn April 2, 2002)