"What is customs clearance?", "What is customs declaration?", "What is customs closure?", "What is customs clearance?"
What is Customs Clearance
Customarily also referred to as customs clearance, it means that imported goods, exported goods, and goods in transit must declare to the customs when entering or leaving a country's customs territory or border, go through various procedures stipulated by customs, and fulfill obligations stipulated by various regulations. Only after fulfilling all obligations and completing procedures such as customs declaration, inspection, taxation, and release can the goods be released, and the owner or declarant can take delivery of the goods. Similarly, all means of transport carrying import and export goods entering, leaving, or transiting the border must also declare to the customs, go through customs procedures, and obtain customs permission. During the customs clearance period, whether imported, exported, or in transit, goods are under customs supervision and cannot be freely circulated. Customs clearance mainly refers to the collective term for a series of specific operations related to imports, including customs declaration, inspection declaration, documentation, transportation, and delivery.
What is Customs Declaration
Customs declaration is one of the necessary steps in fulfilling customs entry and exit procedures. It refers to the process by which persons in charge of means of transport entering or leaving the country, consignees or consignors of goods and articles, or their agents legally declare and handle relevant procedures when passing through a customs supervised port.
The objects involved in customs declaration can be divided into two categories: means of transport entering or leaving the country, and goods and articles. Due to their different natures, their declaration procedures vary.
For means of transport such as ships and aircraft, the captain or pilot usually signs the arrival and departure customs declarations, submits cargo manifests, air waybills, sea waybills, and other documents to customs, serving as the basis for customs supervision of cargo loading/unloading and passenger boarding/disembarking.
As for goods and articles, the consignee, consignor, or their agent should fill out a customs declaration form according to the trade nature of the goods or the category of the articles, and attach relevant statutory documents as well as commercial and transport documents for customs declaration.
If the goods are bonded goods, a declaration should be made in the "bonded goods" manner, and the matters to be handled and supervision methods by customs differ from those for goods under other trade methods.
Customs declaration is a specific action, usually where the import/export consignee, consignor, or agent declares specific cargo information to customs — not only referring to export customs but also including import.
What is Customs Closure
Customs closure is a procedure after customs release, involving submitting the released relevant data and the data of goods loaded onto the ship to customs, filing and keeping records, as well as subsequent export tax refunds (foreign exchange verification), etc. Therefore, the customs closure date refers to the date on which an international voyage ship completes customs formalities before departure, settles all due payments, and is permitted by customs to depart port.
What is Customs Clearance
Customs clearance is an umbrella term for a series of actions including customs closure and clearance. It means that imported goods, exported goods, and goods in transit must undergo the customs-stipulated procedures when entering or leaving a country's customs territory or border. Only after completing procedures such as customs declaration, inspection, taxation, and release can the goods be cleared; under processing trade methods, after the subsequent verification and cancellation are completed, and only when this entire series of actions is finished, is it called customs clearance.
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