On November 21, 2023, the General Administration of Customs of China issued the Announcement on Matters Related to the Identification Standards of Dishonest Enterprises. In order to better stimulate the vitality of market entities and promote the development of import and export enterprises, the standards for the identification of dishonest enterprises have been adjusted. The details of the announcement are as follows:

Non-customs declaration enterprises, due to non-subjective intent, imposed to the Customs administrative punishment within 1 year in violation of customs regulations, will not be listed in the Customs identified dishonest enterprise credit status records.

This announcement is valid from December 1, 2023, to December 31, 2025.

1. The original criteria for identifying dishonest enterprises
   
   According to the Measures of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Enterprise Credit Registration and Filing
   
   Article 22 An enterprise shall be identified as a dishonest enterprise by the Customs under any of the following circumstances:
   
   

   (1)	Enterprises that have been investigated by customs for smuggling crimes and filed for investigation by public security agencies, and are held criminally responsible by judicial organs in accordance with the law;
   (2)	Enterprises which constitute smuggling acts and are subject to administrative punishment by the Customs;
   (3)	The number of customs administrative penalties imposed to non-customs declaration enterprises in violation of customs regulations within 1 year exceeds 0.1% of the total tickets of the previous year's customs declaration, entry and exit filling list, entry and exit means of transport manifest and other documents (hereinafter referred to as "relevant documents"), and the total amount of Customs administrative penalties exceeds 1 million yuan; The number of customs administrative penalties imposed to customs declaration enterprises in violation of customs regulations within 1 year exceeds 0.05% of the relevant documents and the total amount of Customs administrative penalties exceeds 300,000 yuan; In case the number of relevant documents in the previous year cannot be calculated, the accumulated penalty, arising from the custom’s administrative punishment caused by violation of customs regulations within 1 year, exceeds 1 million yuan for non-customs declaration enterprises or 300,000 yuan for customs declaration enterprise.
   (4)	Enterprises that have failed to pay tax more than three months after the expiration of the payment period;
   (5)	Enterprises that fails to pay the fine, the confiscated illegal gains and the equivalent price of smuggled goods and articles recovered after more than 6 months from the date of expiration of the payment period, and the value exceeds 10,000 yuan;
   (6)	Enterprises that resist or obstruct customs officers from performing their duties according to law and are punished according to law;
   (7)	Enterprises that bribe customs officers and are fined or investigated for criminal responsibility according to law;
   (8)	Other circumstances provided for by laws, administrative regulations, and customs rules.

   
   
2. The concept of customs declaration enterprise and non-customs declaration enterprise
   
   The main responsibility of the customs declaration enterprise is to provide agent customs declaration services for enterprises. Non-customs declaration enterprises refer to other enterprises registered or filed with the Customs in addition to customs declaration enterprises.
   
   
3. How to determine "subjective intent" and "non-subjective intent"
   
   Enterprises that conduct false declaration, forgery, alteration of inspection certificates and other acts to the customs, are regarded as subjective intentions and do not apply to this announcement.
   
   Enterprises that violate the regulations of customs supervision out of non-subjective intent, apply to this announcement. For example, an enterprise being punished by customs for a false declaration made in the shipment of goods due to the negligence of the overseas supplier. If the enterprise could submit sufficient evidence to the Customs to show that there is no subjective intention in its false declaration, the administrative penalty will not be included in the credit status record of the dishonest enterprise identified by the Customs.
   
   
4. How to determine "within 1 year" stated in the announcement
   
   "Within 1 year" mentioned in the announcement refers to the consecutive 12 months from the date of the most recent administrative penalty decision made by the customs on the enterprise.
   
   
5. Not included in the Customs identified dishonest enterprise credit status records
   
   Not included in the Customs identified dishonest enterprise credit status records refers to the administrative penalties imposed to the enterprises meet the circumstances listed in the announcement, and the enterprises will not be downgraded to dishonest enterprises because of the penalties. Specifically, this penalty is not used as a record of the credit status of the customs to identify the dishonest enterprise and is not counted in the calculation of the number of penalties and the amount of penalties.
   

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