On July 22, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the implementation of the "15th Five-Year Plan", accelerating customs modernization, and building a strong country in service trade.
At the meeting, Wang Jun, spokesman and deputy director of the General Administration of Customs, said that from "cherry freedom" to "durian freedom", more and more global goodies are "flying into the homes of ordinary people." This is not only a vivid manifestation of my country's continued opening up of the market and sharing development opportunities with the world, but also a true portrayal of the country's continuous expansion of imports to meet the people's high-quality life needs.
As the entry and exit supervision and management agency, the customs is an important part of implementing the national strategy of expanding domestic demand and promoting consumption.Take durian as an example. Since 2022, we have successively completed the import of durians from Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos and other countries to China, and the sources of imports have continued to expand.Last year, durian imports reached 1.868 million tons, doubling the quantity compared with 2022. They can be found everywhere in fruit shops at home, with a wider range of choices and more affordable prices.
Currently, my country has become a major trading partner of more than 160 countries and regions around the world, with imported goods coming from a wider range of sources, in more categories, and with a better structure.Milk from Oceania, coffee from Africa, and chilled salmon from Europe have crossed the ocean and entered the "shopping cart" of Chinese people.
During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, we will focus on "three advantages" in expanding imports to better meet the consumption needs of the people:
First, optimal access.Continuously innovating the supervision model, since this year, 264 new agricultural and food products from 79 countries have been admitted, and the import sources of agricultural and food products have covered more than 150 countries and regions around the world.The General Administration of Customs will continue to optimize the quarantine access procedures for agricultural and food products and expand the diversified import market while ensuring safety.
The second is to improve supervision.We will continue to optimize the customs clearance process, reduce cross-border logistics costs, and ensure that fresh agricultural and food products are delivered to people's tables with fresh quality and economical prices; we will implement various free trade agreement tariff reduction measures, steadily expand the scope of acceptance of inspection results from third-party institutions, and help more consumer goods advance quickly; we will strengthen the monitoring and early warning of quality and safety risks of imported goods, deepen cross-departmental regulatory coordination, accurately intercept problematic goods, and strictly adhere to the bottom line of quality and safety.
The third is excellent service.We will vigorously support the launch economy, optimize inspection measures for imported consumer goods such as cosmetics, and achieve "zero time difference" docking with global new product launches; promote the exhibition economy, optimize "exhibits into commodities" supervision measures, facilitate on-site transactions of imported exhibits at large exhibitions; serve inbound consumption, simplifyStreamline the departure tax refund process for overseas passengers. Starting from July 1, the 100% verification model will be changed. Tax refund applications under 10,000 yuan will be verified on a proportional basis. Paperless processing will be fully implemented. Through continuous optimization of supervision, we will continue to improve the inbound consumption experience and polish the "Buy in China" brand.
