Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei to integrate customs

Companies located in Beijing, Tianjin or Hebei province will soon enjoy the same procedure to make their foreign trade more convenient after customs in the area is integrated.

The General Administration of Customs has released a plan to reform the customs departments in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, to begin on July 1 in the two municipalities and expand to Hebei in October, Hebei Daily reported on Thursday.

Under the reform, there will be a customs-clearance center, which will control the information of all three and oversee the linkage of customs for the area. Four unified platforms will be set up in charge of necessary processes, including declarations, document examinations, risk control and field operations, across the region.

After the integration reform is completed, companies in the region can enjoy greater convenience in that they can choose any one customs department in the region and, once cleared, they do not need to be inspected elsewhere in the region, said a customs official from Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province.

Companies can also enjoy the same preferential policies in the trilateral region, the official said.

A unified customs service has become necessary because of the rapid development of foreign trade in the region.

In 2013, the total volume of import and export trade in the region exceeded $612.5 billion, accounting for 14.7 percent of the country's total. Foreign investment in use reached $32 billion, an average growth of 4.32 percent more than elsewhere in the country.