The 2017 National Customs Directors’ Conference was held in Beijing on January 13. Dean Libo Fan attended the conference on behalf of President Jiaqiong Wang and made in-depth exchanges with relevant departments.

Mr. Guangzhou Yu, Secretary of the Leading Party Members’ Group and Minister of General Administration of Customs, on behalf of the Leading Party Members’ Group of General Administration of Customs, made a keynote speech entitled “Adhering to the principles of comprehensively and strictly strengthening Party discipline, deepening reform, improving supervision and optimizing services so as to welcome the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (19th NCCPC) with outstanding achievements”. He reviewed and summarized customs work in 2016, and mapped out customs work in 2017.

In 2016, China's total foreign trade value was 24.33 trillion yuan, with a decrease of 0.9%, among which the export value was 13.84 trillion yuan, with a decrease of 2.0%; and the import value was 10.49 trillion yuan, with an increase of 0.6%. China’s foreign trade gradually stabilized, and the structure was further optimized. In 2016, China Customs realized a net tax (tariff and import linkage tax) revenue of 1,538,800 million yuan, with an increase of 2.6% compared with the tax base in the previous year, which was 1,500 billion yuan. In 2016, China Customs monitored 3.98 billion tons of import and export cargo and 33.819 million transportation tools, which increased by 0.8% and 5.2% respectively. In 2016, China Customs launched a joint special action named “National Sword 2016”. The year saw 2633 cases of smuggling crimes with a value of 52.93 billion yuan, showing an increase of 17.0% and 4% respectively. The customs verified 366,000 tons of smuggled rice and other food, which is four times as much as the amount of smuggled food in 2015, reaching a historic high.

In 2016, China Customs intensified its cooperation with international customs, and signed 25 cooperation documents in the year, 11 of which were signed being witnessed by state leaders. China Customs also strengthened actual supervision and explored and implemented “incidental monitoring” and “advanced machine inspection”. The export inspection rate decreased by 1%, and paperless customs clearance made comprehensive progress. The customs clearance reform featuring “mutual exchange of information, mutual recognition of regulation and mutual assistance in law enforcement in port administration” took firm steps, and the national customs clearance integration reform struck roots. The experiences of a new batch of 13 pilot reforms in pilot free trade zones were replicated and promoted across the country. The depth and breadth of oversight through inspections by randomly selected law enforcement officers or inspectors of randomly selected entities and the public release of inspection results were gradually expanded. The nationwide customs random inspection rate reached 94.3%, and the rate of inspections conducted by randomly selected inspectors reached 100%. The charges involved in importing and exporting were fully cleared and standardized. In 2016, all customs administrative charges were cancelled.

Minister Yu put forward the general idea of ​customs work in 2017: The customs will fully implement the spirit of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (NCCPC), the third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, the sixth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the Central Economic Work Conference; the customs will further study and implement the spirit of a series of speeches made by General Secretary Jinping Xi; the customs will enhance the consciousness of the need to maintain political integrity, think in big-picture terms, uphold the leadership core and keep in alignment, and continue to promote progress while maintaining stability, in accordance with the overall layout of the principle of promoting balanced economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress and the Four-Pronged Comprehensive Strategy; the customs will firmly set and implemented new development concepts, and take promoting supply-side structural reforms as the principle task; the customs will meet the requirements of “guarding the entrance of the country, providing good services, preventing risks and building up an excellent team”, and facilitate the construction of learning-oriented, service-oriented, law-oriented, innovation-oriented and incorrupt customs; the customs will focus on strengthening the CPC’s leadership over customs work and stick to strict governance. China Customs will concentrate efforts on strengthening supervision and optimizing services, so as to ensure that administration is in accordance with the law and that the law is enforced for the people. The customs will focus on mind emancipation and reform and innovation, ensuring that all major reforms are steadily progressing. The customs will focus on enhancing capabilities and building a well-qualified and highly disciplined paramilitary; and the customs will be loyal to its duties and do solid work, welcoming the opening of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (19th NCCPC) with outstanding achievements.

Minister Yu deployed the key tasks of customs inspection services in 2017. He proposed to spare no effort in strengthening supervision and guarding the entrance of the country, and to do everything possible to achieve steady growth and development. China Customs will strengthen actual supervision and tax administration, striving to complete the 2017 tax budget targets. The customs will launch a joint special action “National Sword 2017” aiming at combating smuggling, which will resolutely and continuously crack down on smuggling of grain, frozen goods and major sensitive tax-related products and resource products, including petroleum products, electronic products, mechanical equipments and so on; the customs will also crack down on smuggling of drugs, guns, solid wastes and endangered species, and strive to eliminate all types of professional smuggling gangs. The customs will deepen customs cooperation with countries along the proposed Belt and Road routes, promote the opening of key railway ports of China-Europe railway express, and open up a large international logistics channel, supporting enterprises to “go global”. The customs will further deepen the innovation of the supervision system of pilot free trade zones, promote the replication of pilot experience, and study and introduce support measures for newly established pilot free trade zones. In 2017, China Customs will basically realize customs clearance integration throughout the country, and will strengthen the customs clearance construction featuring “mutual exchange of information, mutual recognition of regulation and mutual assistance in law enforcement in port administration”; the customs will formulate the standard edition of the “single window” of international trade, promote it across the country, and achieve full coverage of oversight through inspections by randomly selected law enforcement officers or inspectors of randomly selected entities and the public release of inspection results; the customs will set up an “Internet plus Customs” online office platform, and form a new model of customs services that integrate online and offline services, so as to further improve the efficiency of customs clearance and reduce one third of the time customs clearance takes.

University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) has its own characteristics in the field of customs administration research. As a representative of education institutions, every year UIBE is invited to attend the National Customs Directors’ Conference held by General Administration of Customs. In recent years, UIBE’s customs administration disciplines have made outstanding achievements, and have been fully affirmed and recognized by the relevant bureaus and departments of General Administration of Customs. The frequency of exchanges among us has been getting higher and higher and the scope of cooperative study has become much wider.