Study On Customs' Supervision On Overseas Purchasing

As an emerging industry,overseas purchasing has been gradually favored by the majority of consumers for its quick response,convenience and variety.However,the customs has also met new challenges.On the one hand the current laws and regulations cannot meet the needs of the purchasing business,on the other hand the huge purchasing group may involve in the act of smuggling,raising new issues to the customs' supervision.This thesis focus on the customs' supervision on overseas purchasing,consisting of four parts:The first part reviews the story of the stewardess' overseas purchasing act and raises two thought provoking questions: how does China's laws and regulations rule about overseas purchasing and what is the relationship between overseas purchasing and smuggling.In order to resolve these issues,the thesis first introduces the concept and types of overseas purchasing.Overseas purchasing can be divided to profit and nonprofit purchasing according to the purchasers' subjective purpose;the profit purchasing can be divided into spot purchasing and non-spot purchasing,which have different legal natures.The second part discusses the relevant laws and regulations of overseas purchasing.Foreign countries don't have laws and regulations specifically concerning on overseas purchasing,China's laws and regulations on overseas purchasing is also blank,the rules for overseas purchasing mainly rest on the customs' laws and regulations.China's customs has divided the imported goods into goods and items,which apply to different import tax.The standard to distinguish “goods” and “items” is “personal use” and “reasonable amount”.“Personal use” means that the goods are bought for their own use or as gifts,not for rent or resale purpose.“Reasonable amount” is confirmed according to the relevant customs regulations and somehow at the customs staffs' discretion.For profit purchasing,the purchasers' subjective purpose does not meet the “personal use” standard;they should comply with goods' import duties.For nonprofit purchasing,the purchasers' subjective purpose is not for resale,however,they must comply with the limited amount the law requires,the exceeded amount still have to pay relevant tax.The third part discusses the relationship between overseas purchasing and smuggling.Overseas purchasing does not necessarily form smuggling.Both profit and nonprofit purchasers take a variety of ways to covert customs clearance and evade customs supervision,which may constitute a smuggling offense.If the purchasers have deliberately subjective purpose and result in serious harm,they may constitute the crime of smuggling.For the domestic consumers who buying goods from the purchasers,the Customs Act also rules that buying smuggled goods may also constitute smuggling offense or even smuggling crime.However,our country hasn't put any sanctions to domestic consumers.The amount and value domestic consumers buy is not very big and the social harm is not serious,so the sanctions are not necessary.The fourth part presents recommendations to improve supervision of overseas purchasing.In the aspect of legislation,besides the “goods” and “items” import channels,the customs could add small foreign trade channels,which include overseas purchasing;to refine customs laws and regulation,such as further explain the meaning of “personal use” and “reasonable amount”;to improve the limited amount when Chinese residents entry the country with items because people have higher consumption level.In the aspect of supervision,the customs should improve the means of supervision.For goods carried by individuals,the customs could remain the spot check pattern;for emailed goods,the customs should develop an electric management system.At the same time,the customs should vigorously publicize the customs laws and regulations through a variety of ways to make people understand overseas purchasing behavior.