China Customs: Import & Export Prohibited Items & Duties

When shipping goods from Japan to China by sea, Chinese customs regulations on prohibited items and tariffs are key concerns. Violating these regulations may result in your prohibited items being confiscated, fines imposed, legal liability pursued, and other significant losses.

Below is a guide to Chinese customs prohibited items and tariffs, summarized by Seapoe based on the relevant regulations of the General Administration of Customs of China and our company's years of experience in carrying personal belongings from Japan to China.

Returning to China from Japan: Chinese Customs Prohibited Items and Tariffs

Items Restricted from Entry by Chinese Customs

1. Radio transceivers and secure communication devices;
2. Tobacco and alcohol;
3. Endangered and precious animals and plants (including specimens) and their seeds and propagating materials;
4. National currency;
5. Other items restricted from entry by customs.

Items Prohibited from Entry by Chinese Customs

1. All types of weapons, replica weapons, ammunition, and explosives;
2. Counterfeit currency and counterfeit negotiable securities;
3. Printed materials, films, photographs, records, movies, audio tapes, video tapes, laser discs, computer storage media, and other items harmful to China's politics, economy, culture, or morality;
4. All types of virulent poisons;
5. Opium, morphine, heroin, cannabis, and other addictive narcotics and psychotropic drugs;
6. Animals, plants, and their products carrying dangerous pathogens, pests, or other harmful organisms;
7. Food, medicines, or other items that are harmful to human or animal health, come from epidemic areas, or may transmit diseases.

China's Tariff Policy

Even for items shipped back to China for personal use rather than commercial purposes, tariffs generally still apply: legally speaking, all items entering China must be declared and taxed in accordance with regulations.

China currently has four types of tariffs: export goods tariffs, import goods tariffs, import adjustment taxes, and import duties levied on incoming passengers' luggage and personal postal items.

I. Shipping Luggage and Parcels Back to China

The value limit for mailed express shipments and parcels is 1,000 yuan, and customs conducts random inspections. For identical parcels, some people get taxed and others don't — it largely comes down to luck.

The larger, heavier, higher-declared-value, and greater the quantity of items in a parcel, the higher the chance of inspection; the smaller, lighter, lower-valued, and fewer the items, the lower the chance. Parcels over 8 pounds have a notably increased chance of being taxed; parcels exceeding USD 400 have a significantly increased chance of being taxed (for single indivisible items) or even returned (for multiple items).

For small luggage parcels shipped back to China from Canada, Seapoe integrates premium channels to provide door-to-door transport services for small items returning to China, charged per box, with favorable pricing and high cost-effectiveness.

II. Shipping Furniture and Large Luggage Back to China by Sea

For furniture, large luggage, and similar items, Seapoe has stable and reliable customs clearance experience and capability with Chinese customs, and is able to assist clients in legal and compliant clearance in the vast majority of cases.

China to Japan: Items Prohibited from Exit by Chinese Customs

Items Restricted from Exit by Chinese Customs

1. All items listed within the scope of prohibited entry;
2. Manuscripts, printed materials, films, photographs, records, movies, audio tapes, video tapes, laser discs, computer storage media, and other items involving state secrets;
3. Precious cultural relics and other cultural items prohibited from exit;
4. Endangered and precious animals and plants (including specimens) and their seeds and propagating materials.

Items Prohibited from Exit by Chinese Customs

1. Gold, silver, and other precious metals and their products;
2. National currency;
3. Foreign currency and negotiable securities;
4. Radio transceivers and secure communication devices;
5. Valuable traditional Chinese medicines;
6. Ordinary cultural relics;
7. Other items restricted from exit by customs.

● Chinese Customs Policy:
General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China

● Japanese Customs Policy:
A Complete Guide to Japan Sea Freight Customs/Clearance/Tariffs/Tax-Exemption Conditions