Meat is subject to more complex export authorisation processes than most food products. These products may be exported under the following conditions:

1. Submission of a written request by the authorities of the exporting country to the General Administration of Customs of People’s Republic of China (GACC). The PRC authorities decide whether to initiate the procedure.
2. Once the process is in place, the exporting country is required to complete a detailed questionnaire concerning, in particular, the legislation in force, the structure of official food control authorities, the system of supervision of poultry meat production, the risk analysis carried out and information on the incidence and control of diseases.
3. The GACC then carries out a risk assessment based on the information provided by the exporting country. If the country meets acceptable safety standards for meat production, China continues the negotiations.
4. China and the exporting country discuss the content of the bilateral inspection and quarantine report, which is then signed by the Ministers of Agriculture of both countries. The report contains key information on export opportunities, including poultry species and individual items to be shipped, regulations on how to deal with disease outbreaks, and exchange of information between the parties. Often a separate report is signed for raw meat, so-called edible by-products (including quill feathers and paws) and processed products.
5. In addition, a template health certificate for poultry exported to China is agreed between the veterinary authorities of both countries. [1].
6. Any establishment wishing to export poultry and poultry products to the Chinese market needs to complete specific documentation, which shall then be forwarded by the GACC to the authorities of the exporting country and verified by those authorities before being sent. Importantly, if the plant intends to use an external cold store or freezer, this must also be subject to the approval process. Application forms are forwarded by the Chinese authorities to the exporting country. In some cases, it may be necessary to provide results of tests carried out in accordance with Chinese standards, which may differ from EU requirements.
7. After verifying export applications submitted, Chinese inspectors visit any establishment that is interested in exporting poultry and poultry products to the Chinese market. Recently, the Chinese authorities have started to apply remote verification of the operators, in the form of so-called video inspections, during which the physical presence of the Chinese authorities at the plant is not necessary. This is particularly relevant in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
8. After an inspection, inspectors prepare and send an inspection report and, if there are no grounds for declaring non-compliance, formally approve the operators for export. Only plants listed by the GACC can export. An Excel file is available on the English version of the GACC website, but it is not updated on a regular basis.

The list of ports that accept consignments of imported meat, including poultry, is available in English as an Excel file (4th item on the website): http://english.customs.gov.cn/inspection/html/food.html

The list of requirements and the specification of the items to be inspected when obtaining an export licence to China is quite long. Nevertheless, all those wishing to export to China have to refer to the Chinese standards marked with the abbreviation GB. For poultry, the most important standards are: GB 2707-2016, GB 2726-2016, GB 20799-2016, GB 5749 – 2006, GB 12694 – 2016 and GB/T 27341-2009. They are not publicly available, but the Chinese authorities communicate these standards to the concerned countries for translation.

Establishments approved for export to China are obliged to register in the customs system under the name of Registration Systems of Imported Food and Cosmetic Importers and Exporters. The system is available at the address: http://ire.customs.gov.cn/

IMPORTANT: Exporting plants should be in constant contact with the importer to ensure that products shipped to the Chinese market are not subject to additional requirements or restrictions.

Currently, poultry plants from only three European Union countries are authorized to export poultry to China – these are Poland, Hungary and France. According to information from the Chinese customs office as of November 2, 2022, China has suspended imports from these countries due to outbreaks of avian influenza.

The applicable duties differ significantly from one another. There are both value (ad valorem) and quantity (CNY/KG) duties. In the absence of bilateral agreements on trade in poultry, EU countries are treated like other countries on the preferred list which have a reduced rate of duty.  The list of duty rates is as follows:

[1] http://english.customs.gov.cn/inspection/html/news1.html

Due to the additional duty linked to the quantities imported, chicken meat is subject to the highest rates of duty of all poultry species. The customs duty for poultry products from the European Union is calculated as follows:

Duty to be paid = quantity of product X duty per product quantity (CNY/KG) + value of product X duty per product value[1].

China also uses a list of products for which there is a quota with a reduced rate of duty to be used. Poultry meat is currently not on that list. The list can be found at:

http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2019-12/23/5463213/files/8870ff189a3a44ba88504c6aebc062da.pdf

China does not generally recognise regionalisation due to outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or Newcastle disease (ND). However, in 2020, China and the US concluded an agreement whereby, in the event of an outbreak of one of the aforementioned diseases in poultry, the export ban will not apply to the whole country but will be limited to the state in which the outbreak was confirmed.

For other countries, including the EU, the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture issues decisions on bans on imports from the country if there are outbreaks of HPAI or ND in poultry. Furthermore, China does not automatically recognise the regained status of a country in accordance with the rules of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), i.e. three months after the last outbreak was eradicated. The process of lifting the export ban sometimes takes even several years. In addition, the period between the decision to lift the ban and implementation of the changes is also long and may be several months. Those restrictions apply not only to live animals but also to poultry meat, eggs, as well as poultry and egg products.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON COVID-19:

As the PRC authorities consider the risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus by imported food to be high, the GACC services have introduced a number of precautionary measures against foreign food producers and exporters whose products are found to contain the virus.

Therefore, the information provided by the GACC to the authorities of the exporting country should be kept under constant review and it is vital to remain in constant contact with the importer.