On December 13, the General Administration of Costums of China (GACC) issued a further announcement – Announcement No. 103/2021 (hereinafter Announcement) – which provides for some clarification relating to the Regulation no. 248 (Regulations on the Registration and Administration of Overseas Producers of Imported Food) and the Regulation no. 249 (Administrative Measures on Import and Export Food Safety), published on April 12 by the same authority.
In light of the recent entry into force of both regulations, the Chinese legislator clarifies some points that, before the publication of the Announcement, aroused uncertainty on overseas manufactures who are currently facing the finalization of the enterprise registration at the customs authority. The registration will in fact be a mandatory requirement in order to continue the exportation of food products in China in line with the current legislation.
In particular, Article 4 of the Announcement clarifies that, starting from 1 January 2022, it will be mandatory to indicate the registration number released by the Chinese authority in the section “Product Qualifications” of the import declaration form submitted during the customs clearance. In case of failure to satisfy this requirement, the customs authority will reject the import declaration.
With regard to the labeling, Article 5 of the Announcement reiterates that the administrative measures – already addressed at the following link https://www.studiozunarelli.com/en/how-to-do-business-in-china/exporting-food-to-china-gacc-issues-two-new-regulations/ – included within the Regulation no. 249 shall apply to food products manufactured as of 1 January 2022 which shall also show the obtained registration number on both the external (transport packaging) and internal (minimum sale unit) packaging. These requirements do not apply to products produced before the 1 January 2022, being instead subject to the previous legislation in the field of labeling.
If further clarification in relation to the new provisions, evaluation of specific products to be exported, assistance with the registration procedure is needed, you can contact Zunarelli Law Firm at shanghai@studiozunarelli.com.
Zunarelli Law Firm – China Desk
