(The provisions were worked out jointly by the State
Administration for the Inspection of Import and Export
Commodities, the State Economic Commission,
the Ministry on September 8, 1987 of Foreign
Economic Rolationsand Trade, and the
general Customs Administration)
CHAPTER I GENERAL PRINCIPLES
[Article 1 ] With a view to strengthening the supervision and control of the quality of import commodities and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of parties concerned in foreign trade and the interests of consumers, these provisions are hereby formulated in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations of China.
[Article 2 ] Supervision and control shall be tightened over the quality of import commodities (including commodities imported under joint or wholly foreign-owned operations in China or under various trade arrangements with China, the same hereinafter) at all stages of the entire import process including examination and approval of the import items, signing of contract, storage and transportation, inspection and acceptance and lodging of claims.
[Article 3 ] The State Administration for the Inspection of Import and Export Commodities (hereinafter referred to as "State Administration for Commodity Inspection") is responsible for the inspection, certification, and quality supervision and control of import commodities throughout the country in a unified manner.
The import and export commodities inspection bureaus and their sub-bureaus in various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (hereinafter referred to as "Commodity Inspection Authorities") are responsible for the inspection, certification and quality supervision and control of import commodities in areas under their respective jurisdiction.
The inspection of import medicines, sanitary inspection and quarantine of foodstuffs, quarantine of animals and plants, calibration of weighing and measuring instruments, supervision over the safety of boilers and other pressure vessels, and the inspection and supervision of ships shall be conducted by relevant supervision and inspection organizations according to the State's relevant rules and regulations.
CHAPTER II INSPECTION, TESTING, SUPERVISION AND CONTROL
[Article 4 ] The state practises the system of unified management and division of labor with the attendant responsibility involved the inspection, testing, supervision and control of the quality of import commodities.
All import commodities shall undergo inspection or testing within the prescribed time limit.0 Those without undergoing inspection and testing shall not be permitted to be installed, put into operation, marketed or otherwise used.
[Article 5 ] Upon the arrival of import commodities which are included in the "List of Commodities Subject to Inspection by Commodity Inspection Authorities" (hereinafter referred to as "List of Commodities") or of import commodities that should be certified by the commodity inspection authorities as prescribed in foreign trade contracts, the recipients or endusers (including units ordering the goods, the same hereinafter) or foreign trade transportation units (including foreign trade transportation companies and other forwarding agents, the same hereinafter) shall apply to the commodity inspection authorities at the arrival ports or stations for inspection and testing.
[Article 6 ] The State practises the quality license system for import commodities that involves public safety and health, environmental protection, labor protection and quarantine (hereinafter referred to as "dangerous goods").0 The "Catalog of Import Commodities Subject to the Quality License System" (hereinafter referred to as "Catalog") shall be published six months prior to its enforcement by the State Administration for commodity Inspection and the competent departments of the relevant supervision and inspection organizations.
Samples submitted for examination and the conditions under which the commodities listed in the "Catalog" are produced shall be examined and tested by the commodity inspection authorities and the related supervision and inspection organizations in accordance with the safety laws and regulations and standards prescribed by the State; those that are proved to be up to the standard shall be approved and issued the required "safety mark" or permitted to register.0 Commodities which have not obtained the required "safety mark" or permission to register are not allowed to be imported.
Foreign factories or firms, which export to China for the first time commodities listed in the "Catalog" should, directly or through their agents, apply to the State Administration for Commodity Inspection or its subordinate organizations or related supervision and inspection organizations for the required "safety mark" or registration, accept examination and pay fees according to prescribed rates.
Commodities listed in the "Catalog", shall, after arrival, be subject to compulsory inspection and testing.0 If the goods are proved not up to the standard, the related units shall be required to take care of their disposal or to render them harmless under supervision, or ordered to return or destroy such goods; if two batches of goods in succession are proved to be not up to the standard, the "safety mark" or registration shall be revoked.0 The State Administration for Commodity Inspection and the competent departments of the related supervision and inspection organizations shall issue notices on the approval or revocation of the "safety mark" or registration.
[Article 7 ] Upon the arrival of commodities that are not covered in "List of Commodities" and the "Catalog", the recipients or endusers should report to the commodity inspection authorities in their own areas and carry out the inspection themselves or entrust the designated units to conduct the inspection.0 If the commodities are proved to be up to the standard, they should complete the procedure with the commodity inspection authorities by producting their respective inspection report.0 Should problems be found, the inspection site should be preserved, and aplication should be filed as soon as possible with the commodity inspection authorities for re-inspection.
[Article 8 ] For certain important import commodities, inspection before shipment and supervision over manufacturing or loading may be conducted in the exporting countries according to the provisions of the contracts provided it does not violate the related laws of the exporting countries.0 However, post-arrival inspection shall be the one that is final and the work of inspection and acceptance at home and abroad should be well coordinate.
[Article 9 ] The State shall institute the commodity inspection mark system for import commodities.0 Foreign factories and firms or their agents may apply to the commodity inspection authorities for the commodity inspection mark.0 After inspection and testing, the commodities that are proved to be up to the standard are permitted to have the corresponding commodity inspection mark attached and when these commodities are imported, they may be subject to sample inspection or exempt from inspection as the case may be.
[Article 10 ] The State shall institute the system of accreditation of laboratories undertaking inspection and testing of import and export commodities.
(1) Chinese and foreign laboratories (including inspection and testing organizations) may apply to the State Administration for commodity Inspection and its subordinate departments for laboratory accreditation.0 The accredited laboratories may undertake designated inspection and testing and produce laboratory reports.0 The commodity inspection authorities shall supervise and examine the testing work of the accredited laboratories and, if a laboratory is found to have fallen short of the requirements, shall revoke its accreditation certificate.
If the import commodities are for sale on the home market, the inspection and testing organizations of the recipients of goods should be the ones recognized by the commodity inspection authorities.
(2) The accreditation work which falls under the responsibility of other related departments shall be handled according to relevant regulations.
[Article 11 ] The State Administration for Commodity Inspection is responsible for collecting are processing in formation on the quality of import commodities.0 The foreign trade departments, recipients and endusers, the People's Insurance Company of China, the Bank of China and foreign exchange control departments should inform in time the commodity inspection authorities of the quality of the import commodities and the settlement of claims overseas.0 After comprehensive analyses are made, the commodity inspection authorities are to provide timely feed-back of the information to the related departments.
The related departments shall institute a quality tracking or monitoring system for certain important commodities to be imported.
[Article 12 ] All import commodities shall be declared with and put under the supervision and control by the Customs.
The Customs shall examine and release the import commodities on the "List of Commodities" against the seals of the commodity inspection authorities on the Customs declarations of the import commodities.
The Customs should examine the import commodities in the presence of their recipients of the goods or their agents and, after the examination, put seals upon the related containers or packages, and a proper account of the examination is to be kept for the record.
[Article 13 ] The General Administration of Industry and Commerce and its subordinate departments are responsible for the supervision and control of import commodities on the domestic market.0 No distribution or sale is allowed on the domestic market under either one of the two following conditions:
(1) Where import commodities though listed in the "Catalog", bear no "safety mark" or mark of registration;
(2) Where import commodities are not listed in the "Catalog" and for which neither the commodity inspection authorities nor any of the related inspection organizations have issued the required "up to the standard" notice, and for which the producer have not provided the "up to the standard" mark and the recipients or endusers have not furnished the required inspection reports.
With regard to import commodities on sale on the domestic market, the seller units are responsible for their repairs, replacement or refunds.
[Article 14 ] The State encourages the general public to supervise the quality of import commodities.0 The import examination and approval units, foreign trade departments, storage and transportation units, recipients, commodity inspection authorities and other related supervision and inspection organizations should solicit the widest cross section of enduser and consumer opinions and comments on the quality of the import commodities and answer inquiries about the quality of such goods.
CHAPTER III LIABILITY FOR QUALITY
[Article 15 ] Import examination and approval units should strictly implement the system of examination and approval of import commodities.0 Approval for the import of "dangerous goods" are to be given only after examination is made and found to have fully met the related safety laws and regualation and standards of the State.
[Article 16 ] Foreign trade departments that are responsible for the signing of contracts are to be held accountable for the contracts they sign.0 In cases where foreign trade departments are acting as import agents, the recipients or enduser shall be responsible for the technical clauses if these same clauses have been confirmed by them.
Before signing import contracts, foreign trade departments should, together with the recipient or enduser concerned, enquire into the credit rating of the foreign factories and firms and the quality of the products they supply and study the draft import contracts, inspection standards and quality assurance clauses to ensure the quality of the import decision.
Import contracts (including contracts for importing used equipment) should, according to the relevant laws and regulations of the State, include specific clauses on quality, packaging, inspection, claim, quality assurance and arbitration.0 When necessary, they should also incorporate such clauses as those requiring the sellers to provide inspection and other technical data and part of the payment should be deferred until the validity period of claim expires.0 If there are technical standards to follow, order should be placed according to domestic or international standards.0 Where samples are the basis for an import decision, the samples shall be examined and tested and, after the conclusion of the transactions, shall be kept under seal by both sellers and buyers or by the commodity inspection authorities or designated inspection organizations with their respective signatures attached thereon.
After signing the import contracts, the foreign trade departments concerned should keep abreast of the progress of the contract performance until the delivery of the import goods and provide the recipient or enduser with copies of the import contracts and related inspection standards and other data.
[Article 17 ] Transportation units should deliver the import commodities safely to the places where they are to be handed over or stored within the time limit prescribed in the contracts.0 The hand-over system should be strictly implemented detailed account of surface damages and short shipment should be kept, and surface-damage cargoes should be kept with due care and under separate lots.0 Foreign trade transportation units at the Customs entry points should issue timely notices of goods arrival to the recipient or enduser and commodity inspection authorities and timely declare damaged goods with the commodity inspection authorities for inspection.
Storage units should strictly follow the warehousing procedure from inspection and acceptance through storage and dispatching of the cargoes according to the related State regualtions.
[Article 18 ] Cargo tallying units should check the number of import commodities in the order of the batch numbers of shipping documents, making sure that the figures are accurate with clear differentiation of goods that are in good condition and those that are damaged, and provide timely commodity inspection authorities and other related departments with tallying documents for damaged good and short-shipped goods.
[Article 19 ] Recipients and endusers should set up their inspection and acceptance organizations and finalize the inspection measures to carry out their acceptance work in strict accordance with the relevant contract provisions and State regulations.0 If the commodities are found to be not up to the standard, applications for re-inspection should be filed with the commodity inspection authorities and related inspection organizations generally one month prior to the expiry of the validity period for claims (including the extended period allowed for claims, the same hereinafter).
The commodity inspection authorities and other related inspection organizations should carry out timely inspection of the import commodities in question or those submitted for re-inspection, and they should issue the required certificates within 20 days after the date on which applications are filed for inspection.
[Article 20 ] Foreign trade departments and foreign trade transportation units are responsible for lodging claims related to the import commodities concerned.0 If the import commodities are found not in conformity with the provisions of the foreign trade contracts with respect to quality, quantity and weight and packaging or the regulations of the State on "dangerous goods" or if they are found to be damaged or short in quantity and weight, for which the foreign parties concerned are responsible, the foreign trade departments or foreign trade transportation units concerned should lodge claims within the validity period of claim in accordance with the following provisions:
(1) If the import commodities are found to be not up to the standard with respect to quality, specifications or properties or found to have been damaged in their original packages or short in weight and quantity due to reasons of designing, manufacturing and packaging, foreign trade departments shall transportation units shall lodge claims against the carriers on the strength of inspection certificates issued by the commodity inpection authorities and the tallying documents signed by the carriers.
If the liability rests with foreign railways, the foreign trade departments, foreign trade transportation units or the recipients and endusers should report to the (Chinese) railway bureau at the place or point of arrival, which shall lodge the claims through the border (entry) railway bureau on the strength of the commercial notes and other related documents; in case of international railway through transport, claims may also be put forward through railway departments.
If the liability is found to rest with foreign airlines or foreign postal or transport departments or companies, it is up to the Chinese civil aviation administration or post offices to lodge the claims on the strength of such documental evidence as those issued for air accidents or those issued by post offices for damage or shortage or inspection certificates issued by the commodity inpsection organizations.
(3) If the import commodities underwritten by foreign insurance companies are found damaged or short in weight and quantity, foreign trade departments shall be responsible for lodging the claims on the strength of the certificates issued by commodity inspection authorities.0 If the commodities are insured or reinsured by the People's Insurance Company of China, the recipients or endusers may directly claim against the local branches of the People's Insurance Company of China according to the provisions of the insurance clauses.0 If the settlement of claims is entrusted to the People's Insurance Company of China, the recipients or endusers, may, at the same time, assign their rights and interests to the insurance company.
[Article 21 ] Various regions and departments, especially import examination and approval units and foreign trade departments, recipients and endusers and storage and transportation units should all exercise strict control over the quality of import commodities, supervise and help units under their administration to set up the quality control responsibility system and implement the various measures, and check regularly the work of control over the quality of import commodities.
[Article 22 ] If the responsibility for an import commodity's quality problem is found to rest with the domestic parties, the departments concerned shall be held accountable according to their respective areas of jurisdiction as follows:
(1) If the responsibility is found to rest with the foreign trade departments, and has resulted in errors in contracts and difficulties in inspection and acceptance, or if the commodity inspection certificates are received before the expiry date of the validity period of claim but the claims are not lodged in time and the right to claim is thus forfeited and results in economic losses, the foreign trade departments should be held responsible for the losses and further investigation should be made to determine and affix the responsibility on those who are directly involved.
(2) If, due to the responsibility of transportation units, the import commodities are not shipped to the destinations within the time limit prescribed in the transportation contracts or the commodities are damaged or found short in weight or quantity, the transportation units shall be held responsible for paying the demurrage or covering the actual losses according to the transportation contracts and other relevant provisions, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
If damage and shortage are the result of poor storaging, the storage units shall be held responsible for the losses, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
If economic losses are incurred because of the (Chinese) foreign trade transportation units' failure to send the notices to the recipients and endusers of the goods' arrival or failure to apply for inspection at the port of arrival when damages are found and the right to claim for damages is thus forfeited, the same foreign trade transportation units shall be responsible for compensation, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
(3) If the recipients and endusers are responsible for the errors in the contract clauses and in the claim negotiations and for the failure in examining and accepting the goods in time, failure to apply in time to the commodity inspection authorities for inspection, and failure to submit commodity inspection certificates to the foreign trade departments that result in the forfeiture of the right to claim, or damage or shortage of goods in the course of transportation, storage and usage on the part of the recipients or endusers themselves, the same recipients or endusers shall be held responsible, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
(4) If grave losses occur due to ineffective control and supervision by the departments in charge of import examination and approval, the foreign trade departments, system and implement the various measures, and check regularly the work of control over the quality of import commodities.
[Article 22 ] If the responsibility for an import commodity's quality problem is found to rest with the domestic parties, the departments concerned shall be held accountable according to their respective areas of jurisdiction as follows:
(1) If the responsibility is found to rest with the foreign trade departments, and has resulted in errors in contracts and difficulties in inspection and acceptance, or if the commodity inspection certificates are received before the expiry date of the validity period of claim but the claims are not lodged in time and the right to claims is thus forfeited and resutls in economic losses, the foreign trade departments should be held responsible for the losses and further investigation should be made to determinae and affix the responsbility on those who are directly involved.
(2) If, due to the responsibility of transportation units, the import commodities are not shipped to the destinations within the time limit prescribed in the transportation contracts or the commodities are damaged or found short in weight or quantity, the transportation units shall be held responsible for paying the demurrage or covering the actual losses according to the transportation contracts and other relevant provisions, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
If damage and shortage are the result of poor storaging, the storage units shall be held responsible for the losses, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
If economic losses are incurred because of the (Chinese) foreign trade transportation units' failure to send the notices to the recipients and endusers of the goods' arrival or failure to apply for inspection at the port of arrival when damages are found and the right to claim for damages is thus forfeited, the same foreign trade transportation units shall be responsible for compensation, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
(3) If the recipients and endusers are responsible for the errors in the contract clauses and in the claim negotiations and for the failure in examining and accepting the goods in time, failure to apply in time to the commodity inspection authorities for inspection, and failure to submit commodity inspection certificates to the foreign trade departments that result in the forfeiture of the right to claim, or damage or shortage of goods in the course of transportation, storage and usage on the part of the recipients or endusers themselves, the same recipients or endusers shall be held responsible, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
(4) If grave losses occur due to ineffective control and supervision by the departments in charge of import examination and approval, the foreign trade departments, recipients and endusers, and storage and transportation units, due responsibility shall be determined and affixed by the competent departmens concerned on those who are directly involved.
(5) If, due to the dereliction of duty on the part of the commodity inspection authorities or related inspection organizations, the issue of inspection certificates is delayed or errors are made in the certificates thus giving rise to quality problems or the forfeiture of the right to claim thus causing economic losses, the commodity inspection authorities or the related inspection organizations shall be held responsible, and due responsibility shall be determined and affixed on those who are directly involved.
[Article 23 ] When disputes arise in claims among foreign trade parties, they shall be handled according to the relevant provisions of the "Foreign Economic Contract Law of the People's Republic of China".0 When disputes arise over the liability for quality among the domestic parties concerned, they shall be handled according to the relevant provisions of the "Economic Contract Law of the People's Republic of China"
CHAPTER IV REWARDS AND PENALTIES
[Article 24 ] Units or individuals that have consistently distinguished themselves in performances and regards the quality of import commodities and their supervision and control thereof in all aspects and at all places, shall be commended or rewarded by the departments in charge.
[Article 25 ] Penalities or punishments shall be given according to relevant State regulations by the compentent departments within their terms of reference in any one of the following case that violate these provisions:
(1) Unauthorized import and sale of commodities bearing no "safety mark" or unregistered commodities that are listed in the "Catalog";
(2) Unauthorized sale of commodities which are not listed in the "Catalog", which bear no "up to the standard" marks, and which do not have inspection reports or "up to the standard" notice;
(3) Employment of illegitimate means to evade quality inspection and supervision by the commodity inspection authorities and related supervision and inspection organizations and unauthorized installation operation, sale or usage of such import commodities;
(4) Errors in work that cause grave losses due to the forfeiture of the right to claim, and
(5) Other infringements of the law.
[Article 26 ] Government functionaries whose violations of articles of these provisions are violations of the the criminal law shall be prosecuted as such.
CHAPTER V SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES
[Article 27 ] The right to interpret these Provisions resides in the State Administration for the Inspection of Import and Export Commodities.
[Article 28 ] These provisions shall go into effect as of October 1, 1987.
