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Exporting consumer products from China

In China, the General Administration of Customs (GACC) handles the export declaration, inspection and quarantine, and export food and feed filing. The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) licenses controlled items such as dual-use goods. Certificates of origin come from customs or CCPIT. What arrives at the destination is set by its own rules.

Updated · Each section links to the official source it comes from

Customs and inspection
GACC and local customs
Export controls
MOFCOM, under the Export Control Law
Certificates of origin
Customs or CCPIT
Food and feed exports
Producer filing or registration with customs
Declaration
Electronic, at least 24 hours before loading
Standard for food and cosmetics
The importing country's, or the contract

By product

What each kind of product needs to leave China.

Before the goods leave

The questions to answer, in the order they usually come up.

  1. 1Are the exporter and its declaration enterprise recorded with customs? Read more
  2. 2Is the producer filed or registered with customs for export food, feed or pet food? Read more
  3. 3Must the goods be inspected, or quarantined, before they leave? Read more
  4. 4Is the product a controlled item that needs a MOFCOM licence? Read more
  5. 5Does the buyer need a certificate of origin? Read more

The rules, by area

What each area covers, the texts that set it, and what the official pages say.

Who does what on the way out

The authorities an exporter from China deals with, and the texts they apply.

  • GACC supervises goods leaving China, takes declarations, and runs inspection and quarantine through local customs.
  • Export food production enterprises and their raw material farms file with customs (Food Safety Law (食品安全法), Article 99; GACC Decree No. 249).
  • Pet food is feed, and exported feed must come from a producer registered with customs (Measures on import and export feed and feed additives, Articles 30 and 68).
  • Exported food and cosmetics meet the importing country's standards or the contract (GACC Decree No. 249, Article 38; Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Cosmetics, Article 45).
  • From 1 December 2026, GACC Decree No. 284 sets customs inspection of imported and exported cosmetics.
  • MOFCOM licenses dual-use items and other controlled goods under the Export Control Law (出口管制法).
  • CCPIT issues certificates of origin, certificates of free sale and other commercial certificates.

How we help: Compliant Always shows which of these documents apply to your product and route, and keeps them with the shipment and lot, dated. Ask about this

Export declaration and customs recordation

Who may declare goods for export, when, and with which documents.

  • The consignor of exported goods may declare to customs itself or authorise a customs declaration enterprise; either must complete recordation with customs in advance (GACC Decree No. 277, Article 4).
  • Declaration is made on the electronic customs declaration form; a paper form may be used only in special circumstances with customs' consent (Article 5).
  • Exported goods are declared after they arrive at the area under customs supervision and at least 24 hours before loading (Article 7).
  • The accompanying documents are the contract, invoice, packing list, manifest, bill of lading or waybill, power of attorney for customs declaration, export licences and other documents required by law; goods subject to inspection and quarantine need the documents set for them (Article 8).
  • The consignor and the declaration enterprise answer for the veracity, accuracy, integrity and compliance of what is declared (Article 6).
  • Recordation of a customs declaration entity is valid for a long time; changes to the name, domicile, legal representative or declaration personnel are reported within 30 days (GACC Decree No. 253, Articles 8 and 9).

How we help: Compliant Always keeps the contract, invoice, packing list and any licence with the shipment and lot, dated, and shows what is missing before the goods reach the port. Ask about this

Commodity inspection

Compulsory inspection of listed goods before export, and spot checks on goods outside the list.

  • GACC sets a catalogue of goods subject to compulsory inspection; listed export goods may not be exported until they pass (Law on Import and Export Commodity Inspection, Articles 4 and 5).
  • The consignor of listed goods reports them for inspection at the place and within the time set, and receives an inspection document (Article 15).
  • Goods that passed must be declared for export within the period set; after it, they are reported again (Article 16).
  • Makers of packaging for dangerous goods apply for a performance appraisal, and makers of dangerous goods for a use appraisal; dangerous goods in unappraised packaging may not be exported (Article 17).
  • From 1 June 2026, GACC spot-checks some goods outside the catalogue; the exports named include infant and child products (婴童用品) and low-voltage electrical apparatus (GACC Announcement No. 57 of 2026).
  • Exporting adulterated, counterfeit or substandard goods as good ones is fined 50% to 3 times the value of the goods (Article 33).

How we help: Compliant Always keeps test reports and inspection documents with the lot, dated, and shows which are missing or expired before the goods are declared. Ask about this

Export controls

Licensing for dual-use items and other controlled goods, technologies and services.

  • The Export Control Law (出口管制法) covers dual-use items, military products, nuclear items and other items tied to national security, including related technical data (Article 2). It took effect on 1 December 2020.
  • Items on a control list or under temporary control need a licence; other goods need one where the exporter knows or should know, or is told, of a risk to national security or of use for weapons of mass destruction or terrorism (Article 12).
  • An exporter that cannot tell whether a product is a dual-use item may ask the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), giving its performance indicators and main uses (Regulations on the Export Control of Dual-Use Items, Article 14).
  • Dual-use exports go out under a single licence (up to 1 year), a general licence (up to 3 years) or an export certificate obtained by registration (Article 15).
  • The consignor presents the licence to customs; where customs has evidence that goods may be controlled, it can question the consignor and holds the goods meanwhile (Articles 21 and 22).
  • Exporting a controlled item without a licence is fined 5 to 10 times the illegal turnover where that is 500,000 yuan or more, and otherwise 500,000 to 5 million yuan (Export Control Law, Article 34).

How we help: Compliant Always keeps the classification reasoning and any licence or end-use document with the product, so the answer is on record when customs or a buyer asks. Ask about this

Certificates of origin

Proof that goods originate in China, for non-preferential purposes and for preferential tariffs under trade agreements.

  • A consignor may apply for a certificate of origin to the inspection and quarantine authorities, now part of customs, or to the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and its local sub-councils (Regulations on the Origin of Import and Export Goods, Article 17).
  • The applicant registers with the issuing authority and declares origin truthfully; no certificate is issued for goods not originating in China (Articles 18 and 19).
  • Goods wholly obtained in China originate there; otherwise origin is where the last substantial transformation took place, judged first by a change in tariff classification (Articles 3 and 6).
  • Under RCEP, a Certificate of Origin is issued before shipment, or marked "ISSUED RETROACTIVELY"; China's issuing bodies are customs and CCPIT with their local branches (GACC Decree No. 255, Articles 19 and 42).
  • An approved exporter, which must be an Advanced Certified Enterprise, may issue its own declaration of origin under RCEP and the agreements with Iceland, Switzerland and Mauritius; the authorisation lasts 3 years (GACC Decree No. 254).
  • Consignors, manufacturers and approved exporters keep the documents proving origin for 3 years from issue (Decree No. 255, Article 41).
  • Obtaining a certificate by fraud, or forging or trading one, is fined 5,000 to 100,000 yuan (Regulations on Origin, Article 23).

How we help: Compliant Always keeps each certificate or declaration of origin with the shipment, beside the bill of materials it rests on, for the three years the records are kept. Ask about this

Who answers for what

WhoWhat they answer forHow we help
Exporter (consignor)Recordation with customs, a truthful export declaration and any licence the goods need.The shipment's documents kept together, dated, with the gaps shown before declaration.
ManufacturerFiling or registration with customs where required, making the goods to the destination's standards, and the records behind them.Specifications, test reports and certificates kept with each lot.
Customs declaration enterprise or forwarderDeclaring within the authority the exporter gives it, under a power of attorney filed with customs.Answers to its questions taken from the record rather than from email threads.
Customs and CCPITInspection, quarantine and export certificates (customs), and certificates of origin (customs or CCPIT).Certificates kept with the shipment and read against what the destination asks for.

Local customs

GACC sets the rules and local customs apply them. Export food production enterprises file with the customs where they are domiciled, and raw material farms with the customs where they are located (GACC Decree No. 249).

Exported food and cosmetics are inspected at the place of production, unless GACC designates another place.

Where are the goods going?

Most of what products have to meet is set where they are sold. Each guide sets out the rules on arrival, with the official source for each.

Questions businesses ask

Who regulates exports from China?
GACC handles declarations, inspection, quarantine and export food and feed filing through local customs. MOFCOM licenses controlled items such as dual-use goods. Customs and CCPIT issue certificates of origin.
When must goods be declared for export from China?
After they arrive at the area under customs supervision and at least 24 hours before loading. The consignor declares itself or through a customs declaration enterprise, both recorded with customs in advance (GACC Decree No. 277).
Which documents go with an export declaration from China?
The contract, invoice, packing list, manifest, bill of lading or waybill, power of attorney for the declaration, export licences and other documents required by law, plus inspection and quarantine documents where they apply (GACC Decree No. 277, Article 8).
Does exported food need to be registered in China?
Export food production enterprises and their raw material farms file with customs, and customs inspects the food where it is made and issues the certificate (Food Safety Law, Article 99; GACC Decree No. 249).
Are goods inspected before export from China?
Goods in GACC's compulsory inspection catalogue may not be exported until they pass. GACC also spot-checks some goods outside it; from 1 June 2026 the exports named include infant and child products and low-voltage electrical apparatus.
Do consumer goods need an export licence from China?
Only if they are controlled. Dual-use items on MOFCOM's control list need a licence, and so do other goods where the exporter knows or should know of a risk of weapons, terrorist or national security use (Export Control Law, Article 12).
Who issues certificates of origin in China?
Customs and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) with its local branches. Approved exporters may issue their own declarations of origin under RCEP and some other agreements.
Which goods may not be exported from China at all?
GACC's guidance lists goods in the Catalog of Goods Prohibited from Export, such as rhinoceros horn, tiger bone, musk, bezoar and ephedra herb, as well as products of prison labour.
How does Compliant Always help with exporting from China?
Our team reads the rules for the routes you ship. Compliant Always shows which export documents apply to your product, keeps them with the shipment beside what the destination asks for, and watches the sources for changes. It shows what the requirements say and what your documents show; you decide.

Sources

Compliant Always is a product of Lettuce Labs LLC. It shows what requirements say and what your documents show. It is not legal advice, and you decide.

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