The General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC), the headquarters of China Customs, is a key border agency of the nation. Following the government restructuring in 2018, China Customs now boasts 100,000 staff throughout the country with responsibilities of traditional customs, as well as border health checks, inspection and quarantine for imported and exported animals, plants, and their products, imported and exported food safety, and commodity inspection.

      GACC oversees 42 customs districts which operate through a total of 678 customs houses nationwide. GACC has its Guangdong office located in Guangzhou for regional coordination.

GACC exercises the following responsibilities:
    Port management coordination,customs control,anti-smuggling,trade statistics compilation,customs valuation and duty collection,performs health checks at points of entry,takes sanitary and phytosanitary measures to safeguard our land and our people,protects imported and exported food safety,inspects imported and exported consumer products and bulk commodities,and more...

     An overseas production enterprise of imported food shall obtain the registration of the General Administration of Customs, and the General Administration of Customs of China shall be responsible for the registration and management of overseas production enterprises of imported food. 

      The GACC released two regulations in April 2021,, GACC Decree 248 and GACC Decree 249, both of them comes into force with effect from January 01, 2022.According to GACC Decree 248 “Overseas food manufacturer and processing plant registration” which requires all overseas food manufacturers, processors, and storage facilities to register with the GACC before exporting to China market.

     Starting from January 1, 2022, all overseas production, processing, and storage companies exporting food to China will need to register for overseas food production companies;

    The following 19categories of imported food overseas production enterprises shall be recommended by the competent authority of the country (region) where they are located to the General Administration of Customs of China or  by entrusting their agents for registration: 

     Meat and meat products, casings, aquatic products, dairy products, bird's nest and bird's nest products, bee products, eggs and egg products, edible fats and oils, stuffed pasta, edible grains, grain milling industrial products and malt, fresh and dehydrated vegetables, and Dried beans, seasonings, nuts and seeds, dried fruits, unroasted coffee beans and cocoa beans, special dietary foods, health foods,Frozen fruit.

     Enterprises that import overseas food products other than the above 19 categories of food may apply for registration to the General Administration of Customs of China by themselves or by entrusting their agents.