The nature of goods is an important basis for determining customs supervision and tax collection and management. Due to the different nature of goods and articles, different taxation rules apply to tax collection and management. The same goods may have tax differences, so there is a possibility of tax evasion; in terms of customs supervision, goods and articles are subject to different customs clearance procedures and supervision methods, and there is a possibility of evading supervision.
The element of smuggling crime is evasion of customs supervision, and false declaration of trade nature is one of the main ways for smuggling suspects to evade customs supervision. The way in which evasion of customs supervision constitutes smuggling behavior needs to be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Law and relevant customs administrative regulations. Regarding purchasing smuggling, in 2013, the Shanghai Court had a case on “false declaration of commodity nature” for smuggling of goods. In current smuggling crimes, “false declaration of commodity nature” and “false declaration of trade nature” are more commonly used smuggling methods in express delivery channels and cross-border e-commerce fields, and should be severely cracked down.