The development of the processing trade in South China's Guangdong Province is set to speed up rapidly thanks to improved supervision at Guangdong Customs, an official said yesterday.
From June 1, Guangdong Customs will impose new methods governing all processing trade enterprises in the province, said Sun Songpu, director of Guangdong Branch of the General Administration of China Customs yesterday in Guangzhou.
The reform has been successfully tried out in 15 enterprises under the supervision of five customhouses in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Gongbei, Shantou and Huangpu since April 15.
The director predicted the new supervision mode would be beneficial for the development of the processing trade in the province.
"It will simplify transferring procedures and improve through-customs efficiency," Sun said.
Under the new guidelines, the former eight procedures will be reduced to four, and a deal will now be completed within 24 hours on average rather than five to seven days in the past.
The director added that Guangdong Customs' new mode of supervision would greatly reduce heavy expenses incurred by the processing trade enterprises, especially the sellers, when they go through complicated declaration procedures.
It is estimated the cost in such procedures can be reduced by more than 500 million yuan (US$60 million) a year when the reform is operational throughout the province.
Also, the official said the new mode will strengthen the customs' supervision system.
The new system utilizes computer programs and enables customs to readjust its working style to be more efficient.
Extra care will be taken when registering goods in a bid to specify enterprises' legal liabilities and help crack down on smuggling and prevent commercial frauds, Sun said.
After more than 20 years' development, the province's processing trade now incorporates high-tech products.
And increasingly more enterprises can purchase raw materials, accessories and components they urgently need without the need to import them. Last year, statistics show the total value of high-tech processing trade amounted to US$37.4 billion, accounting for 29.5 percent of the import and export value of processing trade in Guangdong Province, involving more than 70 percent of processing trade enterprises.
(China Daily May 16, 2002)
