By Nick Lung

The Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of China has customs as a supervisory unit, but in fact the regulations of each unit are numerous, and each agency and ministry can issue different laws and regulations at various times, but it is the actual implementation and operation of customs affairs. It has always been "customs". Customs has the responsibility to inspect according to the regulations of each unit but does not have the power of each unit to formulate inspection rules. Other units are only responsible for formulating specifications and not responsible for inspection. Today I will briefly introduce the responsible units that may be involved in the customs clearance of goods.

Common units of power and responsibility in the Republic of China —

District Prosecutors Office:

If the import behavior involves criminal law, such as controlled drugs, contraband, etc., it will be transferred to the District Prosecutor's Office.

Possible cases include In order to relieve pain, cancer patients ask foreign relatives and friends to purchase CBD and mail it to Taiwan.

National Treasury Administration,Ministry of Finance:

The management of tobacco and alcohol in Taiwan belongs to the Treasury Department of the Ministry of Finance. If there is any violation of relevant regulations, the Treasury Department will be responsible. The regulations on importing and exporting tobacco and alcohol products can also be found on the Treasury Department website.

Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection:

The Bureau of Standards and Inspection belongs to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and one of its businesses is commodity inspection, such as TVs, computers, ovens, seat belts, baby seats, strollers, etc. are all products that should be inspected, and inspections should be completed in accordance with the provisions of the Commodity Inspection Law when imported program.

Generally, if you buy one for your own use, there will be no problem. However, it has happened that mothers bought three baby seats from the United States and sent them back to Taiwan. When importing, they violated the regulations on the limit for personal use.

Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine:

If you import animals, plants, meat, and other products, you must pay special attention to whether they comply with the regulations of the Animal and Plant Epidemic Prevention and Quarantine Bureau of the Council of Agriculture. Common violations are the import of pet food, canned food, etc. For example, China is an African swine fever area. If you import pork from China Related products are in violation of the regulations.

Bureau of Foreign Trade:

The Bureau of International Trade of the Ministry of Economic Affairs is mainly responsible for the regulations on the general direction of import and export. In 2015, Japan's Daiso Department Store was punished by the China International Trade Administration for importing nuclear disaster food, and was suspended for six months from importing goods.

Intellectual Property Office:

The Bureau of Intellectual Property and Finance mainly inspects imported products for trademark infringement and suspicion of counterfeiting, etc. Products without brands have a higher risk of inspection.

It happened before that a manufacturer imported a batch of Disney mobile phone cases from China, but because Disney accused them of being counterfeit, more than 7,000 of the goods were confiscated and a lawsuit was filed.

NCC (National Communications Commission):

NCC is mainly in charge of the import control of bluetooth, radio frequency, wifi and other commodities. For example, when purchasing 3C commodities such as bluetooth and wifi from abroad, an import license is exempted for a single purchase of less than two pieces, but some consumers are unclear about the regulations. Buying three projectors from abroad at one time violated the regulations, and it was a headache just to deal with the stuck problem.

Provide product catalog to customs

This is for the customs to confirm the tax rules, because with photos and catalogs, you can have more information to judge which tax rules should be allocated (tariff pre-examination can reduce the risk of tax rules).

The product catalog needs to be in Chinese. This is for customs clearance purposes. Even if it is for personal use or not for sale, it needs to be prepared. It generally includes: Product name Trademark Origin Material Function (power specification)

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