Interpretation of customs proactive disclosure system and analysis of international experience

1. The definition and historical evolution of the customs voluntary disclosure system

The customs voluntary disclosure system is a management method in which enterprises voluntarily report to the customs and accept processing when they discover that there is underpayment or omission of taxes or violation of customs regulations in their import and export activities. This system was officially established in 2016 with the revision of the “Customs Inspection Regulations”, and requires relevant companies to proactively disclose violations after self-inspection, and can enjoy a policy of lenient, reduced or no punishment.

Between 2009 and 2015, my country’s customs gradually explored corporate management methods such as “self-inspection and self-reporting” to lay the foundation for the introduction of the active disclosure system. In 2014, the General Administration of Customs began to deepen the pilot program of voluntary disclosure, and then further clarified the basic connotation of the system in the “Customs Inspection Regulations” and implementation measures issued in 2016.

2. Implementation rules of the voluntary disclosure system

According to the “Customs Inspection Regulations”, the implementation of the proactive disclosure system can provide various conveniences and policy support for import and export enterprises:

• Opportunities for self-correction: Enterprises can proactively discover problems and report them through self-examination, which improves the enterprise’s self-discipline management capabilities, promotes effective standardized management, and improves the overall competitiveness of the enterprise.
• Reduced administrative penalties: Customs will impose lighter or reduced penalties on violations based on the company’s proactive disclosure; for minor violations, if they are corrected in a timely manner and do not cause harmful consequences, they will not be punished. punishment.
• Reduction and exemption of late payment fees: For enterprises that have paid back taxes, the customs can reduce or reduce late payment fees according to the circumstances.

3. International experience and partnerships

The voluntary disclosure system originated from the corporate social responsibility system, which has gradually been regarded as an important part of international trade since the 1950s. Especially in contemporary times, the World Customs Organization advocates issues such as “informed law-abiding” and “shared responsibilities” to promote the partnership between customs and enterprises. In 2014, the organization put forward guiding regulations on the voluntary disclosure process and compliance behavior in the Voluntary Compliance Framework.

Many countries, such as Canada, Japan, Singapore and Switzerland, have established relatively complete management systems in the field of voluntary disclosure. These countries and regions have further enhanced the effectiveness of customs supervision and corporate compliance by promoting cooperation with enterprises. Consciousness.

4. System characteristics and fault tolerance mechanism

The proactive disclosure system highlights its “fault tolerance mechanism” and helps companies avoid unnecessary penalties through specific rules. For example, enterprises can check declaration errors through the “Enterprise Import and Export Credit Management System”, and illegal declaration errors discovered and submitted during the “self-reporting and self-payment” process may not be handed over to law enforcement agencies as case clues. In addition, during voluntary disclosure, if the customs only imposes a warning or a fine of no more than 1 million yuan on an enterprise, the record will not affect the enterprise’s credit status.

5. Conclusion

The customs proactive disclosure system promotes cooperative relations between customs and enterprises by guiding enterprises to self-manage and self-report, thereby improving customs law enforcement efficiency and enterprise compliance. The implementation of this system provides enterprises with good policy support, which means the improvement of industry self-discipline and proactive error correction, and effectively promotes the optimization of the domestic import and export trade environment.