How to Export to China: A Step-by-Step Guide for Foreign Sellers

Who imports: ordinary trade or cross-border e-commerce

Goods sold to a business in mainland China normally enter in ordinary trade (also called general trade): a Chinese importer, itself or through its broker, declares them to China Customs (GACC) from the data on your invoice. For regulated goods the importer also checks before import that they meet Chinese rules. For food, the importer files with customs where it is based and the overseas exporter files with GACC, both codes go in the import declaration, and the importer must review its overseas suppliers' food safety controls (GACC Decree 249, Articles 19 and 22). For cosmetics, the importer must check that each product is registered or filed with NMPA (CSAR Article 45); until 30 November 2026 the importer is also filed with customs as consignee, a step GACC Decree 284 ends from 1 December 2026.

Cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) retail imports, sold to Chinese consumers and shipped directly to the buyer or from a bonded warehouse (customs code 1210), are supervised as personal-use items and are not subject to first-import licensing, registration or filing (GACC Announcement 2018 No. 194). Decree 280 leaves CBEC food to separate rules, and food sold this way generally needs no CIFER registration. The conditions:

• Products must be on China's CBEC positive list.
• A consumer may spend up to RMB 5,000 per order and RMB 26,000 per year.
• Goods may lack Chinese labels and may differ from Chinese standards, and buyers must be warned of this.
• Buyers may not resell the goods, and the overseas seller registers with customs through a domestic agent.
• Selling to a Chinese importer or distributor in ordinary trade needs the full registration, filing, labelling and inspection rules described below.

HS code, customs value and origin marks

Classify first: the code drives the duty, the trade-agreement origin rule and, for food, the registration route, since CIFER's product category query works by HS code. The first 6 digits are shared by more than 200 countries and economies, but duty is charged on the destination's longer national code, so your own country's export code is not the importer's code; confirm the full code with the importer's broker. Cosmetics fall mainly under headings 3303 to 3307, while surfactant face and body washes usually go to 3401.30 (see Triplicate's note on HS code classification).

China uses a CIF-type customs value. Under the WTO Customs Valuation Agreement the value is normally the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable, and China, like the EU, Japan and India, adds transport and insurance up to the place of import. Show freight, insurance, packing and other charges as separate amounts on the invoice, even on a CIF price, and never issue a second, lower invoice for customs: customs can ask for the contract and payment records, and undervaluation leads to holds, extra duty and penalties.

Where goods or their packaging carry an origin mark, it must match the origin determined under China's Regulations on the Origin of Import and Export Goods (Article 16), and customs orders a correction if it does not (Article 24). Imported prepackaged food also needs a Chinese label showing the country or region of origin (GB 7718).

Food: GACC registration in CIFER, filing and Chinese labels

Overseas factories that produce, process or store food for China, and cold stores holding food of land-animal origin or aquatic products, must be registered with GACC in CIFER (cifer.singlewindow.cn), which charges no fee. Since 1 June 2026 the rules are in GACC Decree 280, which replaced Decree 248; earlier registrations remain valid. Registration lasts 5 years and renews automatically, except for meat and meat products and bird's nest products, whose plants apply 3 to 12 months before expiry. The registration number goes on the food packaging and in the import declaration (licence code 519), together with the exporter's 18-digit filing code and the importer's unified social credit code.

Foods in GACC's catalogue of 17 categories, such as meat, dairy, aquatic products, eggs, edible oils, nuts and seeds, health foods and foods for special dietary uses, need an official recommendation: your country's competent authority audits the plant and issues a recommendation letter before the manufacturer applies. Makers of other foods self-apply in CIFER. Ask your competent authority whether China accepts the product from your country and which official certificate each shipment needs, such as a health certificate for dairy. Health foods, infant formula and foods for special medical purposes also need SAMR registration or filing of the product itself.

Prepackaged food needs a Chinese label meeting GB 7718 and the nutrition labelling standard GB 28050, printed or stuck on, and the importer must check it before import; health foods and foods for special dietary uses must have it printed on the smallest sales package. It shows the name, ingredients, net content, country of origin, the agent, importer or distributor in China, dates and storage conditions. GB 7718-2025 and GB 28050-2025 apply from 16 March 2027, making allergen labelling mandatory and requiring the expiry date (see Triplicate's note on exporting food to China).

Cosmetics: NMPA filing or registration and the domestic responsible person

Cosmetics sold in mainland China through ordinary trade fall under the Cosmetics Supervision and Administration Regulation (CSAR), in force since 1 January 2021. Imported general cosmetics are filed online with the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) before import. Special cosmetics, for hair dyeing, perming, freckle removal and whitening, sun protection, hair-loss prevention or a new efficacy, must be registered first; the certificate is valid for 5 years and the number begins 国妆特进字. Unfiled or unregistered cosmetics may not be imported.

The overseas brand owner or manufacturer holds the filing or registration but must appoint an enterprise legal person in China as its domestic responsible person by notarised authorisation; it can be your importer, a subsidiary or a regulatory agent, and its name and address go on the Chinese label. Every product needs a full safety assessment, and a general cosmetic can be filed without toxicology tests if every manufacturing site holds a government-issued GMP certificate and the assessment confirms safety, except for children's products and companies under key supervision. The label may be printed in Chinese or be a Chinese sticker that matches the original label (see Triplicate's note on exporting cosmetics to China).

Until 30 November 2026 the 2011 inspection rules (AQSIQ Decree 143) apply: the importer declares with the registration or filing proof, and a first import also needs a Chinese label sample with the original label and a translation. GACC Decree 284 replaces them from 1 December 2026: customs checks registration and filing data electronically and moves inspection from the port to the destination the importer declares, while label checks stay.

Lower duty: RCEP, Form E and other FTAs

China has applied RCEP since 1 January 2022, with the 10 ASEAN members, Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand. Goods that meet its rules of origin, for example a change of tariff heading (CTH) or a regional value content of at least 40% under the product-specific rule, can enter at a lower or zero rate if the importer claims it with valid proof. RCEP applies alongside older agreements, such as the ASEAN-China FTA (ACFTA) and the China-Korea FTA, each with its own rates, origin rules and proof, so compare the rate for your HS code under each and choose the lowest one whose origin rule you can meet and document.

Goods must be shipped directly, or pass through other countries only for unloading, reloading, storing or operations to preserve them, under customs control there. Hong Kong is not an RCEP party; RCEP ministers approved an accession working group for it on 21 September 2026. If goods move through Hong Kong and the mainland importer claims an RCEP or China-Korea FTA rate, Hong Kong's Customs and Excise Department (C&ED) says a single through bill of lading is enough and containerised cargo with an unchanged seal needs no certificate; otherwise get a Certificate of Non-manipulation (see Triplicate's notes on RCEP rules of origin and on certificates of origin). The main proofs and points to check:

• Form RCEP: issued by the exporting party's issuing body on the exporter's or producer's application, valid one year; it can be issued retroactively for valid causes, no later than one year after shipment.
• Declaration of origin by an approved exporter. Declarations by any exporter or producer currently work only among Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, which does not include China.
• Form E under ACFTA: from the exporting party's issuing authority, with a 6-digit HS code, the origin criterion (WO, PE, RVC, CTH or PSR) and the FOB value only when RVC is used; it too can be issued retroactively for valid causes.
• RCEP country of origin: China sets different RCEP rates for some goods depending on the partner, so the proof must state the right RCEP country of origin (box 11 of Form RCEP).
• Low value: RCEP needs no proof if the customs value is no more than USD 200 or a higher amount the importing party sets.

Shipping documents, wood packaging and Hong Kong

Give the core invoice fields: seller and buyer, a plain-trade-language description of each line, quantity, unit price, total, an ISO currency code, the Incoterms rule with named place, the country of origin, and freight, insurance and other charges as separate amounts. China's customs declaration rules list the contract, invoice and packing list (装箱清单) among the documents supporting a declaration; with paperless declaration they are usually uploaded or produced when customs asks. Make the packing list from the same data, with carton numbers, net and gross weights and CBM, and use the product names and HS codes on the registration or filing (see Triplicate's notes on commercial invoice requirements and on the export packing list).

Solid wood packaging, such as pallets, crates and dunnage, must be debarked, treated by an approved method (HT, DH, MB or SF) and carry the IPPC mark under ISPM 15, which China applies to imports. The goods owner or its agent declares wood packaging to customs, packaging without the mark is treated or destroyed under customs supervision, and forging, altering or misappropriating IPPC marks, or removing or abandoning wood packaging without permission, can bring a fine of up to CNY 30,000. Packaging made wholly of plywood, OSB or other processed wood, plastic or metal needs no treatment, so tell the importer clearly whether wood packaging is used (see Triplicate's note on ISPM 15 wood packaging).

Hong Kong is a separate customs territory: a free port with no customs tariff or VAT, where the importer lodges an import declaration (TDEC) within 14 days and a re-export declaration when the goods go on. Clearing Hong Kong does not open the mainland: cosmetics sold there through ordinary trade still need NMPA filing or registration, Chinese labels and mainland inspection, and only goods of Hong Kong origin shipped with a CO(CEPA) get CEPA's zero tariff (see Triplicate's note on exporting cosmetics to Hong Kong).