CBEC Retail Product Will be Regarded as Personal Article in China

Takehome:

Ministry of Commerce of China recently announced to manage CBEC Retail Products imported to China as personal articles after the One-year Grace Period for CBEC. That means imported cosmetics through E-Tail portal will not be treated as commodities and will be exempt from pre-market registration/filing and Customs clearance of entry commodity.

According to the previous news, China used to determine CBEC goods to get pre-market approval and Customs Clearance of Entry Commodity (CCEC) like the way traditional imported goods do after the honeymoon(a grace period when CBEC goods can access Chinese Market without pre-market approval ) (More details see: CL).

While now new decision is made that after the grace period, products of CBEC Retail will be regarded as personal article rather than commodities. Once the E-Tail products are treated as personal articles, the only procedure for entry is quarantine inspection. It sharply shortens the time for entry as well as streamlines the complex procedures such as registration, sample inspection, review, etc. which are mandatory for importing commodities. It is a beneficial policy for overseas enterprises who sell cosmetics through E-Tail to China.

The new policy will be enforced in 15 pilot cities (Hangzhou, Tianjing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Hefei, Zhengzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Dalian, Ningbo, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Suzhou, Fuzhou, Pingtan) on Jan. 1st 2018, right after the grace period. Correspondingly, to guarantee products safety and quality, post-market surveillance will be reinforced. For example, a CBEC National Risk Monitor Hub will be established in Hangzhou to monitor the E-business operation; an online warehouse database will be built to record all information of CBEC products, so that the information can be shared by every place, and once epidemic disease or situation of one batch of products are found in one port, other ports will be informed immediately.

In future, E-Commerce law and CBEC Retail enforcement rules will be promulgated; Chemlinked.com will continuously follow the updates.