To further facilitate trade of imported food while ensuring food safety, the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China recently revised the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Registration Administration of Overseas Production Enterprises of Imported Foods (Order No.280 of the General Administration of Customs) and issued the accompanying implementation announcement (Announcement No.27 of 2026 of the General Administration of Customs). The revised regulations will come into effect on June 1, 2026.

The revised regulations have been carefully designed to integrate with the existing registration systems. Import food trade activities of the 96,000 food enterprises already registered will remain unaffected, and notably 95% of these registered enterprises can have their registrations renewed automatically. For those unable to do so, the 3-6 months for them to submit their renewal application before expiration are now expanded to 3-12 months. For new applicants, the application process is streamlined with simplified documentation requirements and a fast-track mechanism of “List-based Registration”.

The aforementioned regulations and explanatory notes are available at the official website of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China(http://jckspj.customs.gov.cn/).