What Does Customs Inspection Cover? Let’s Go Through Key Details and Precautions

Customs inspection refers to an administrative law enforcement activity conducted by customs authorities upon receiving declarations from customs brokers. In accordance with the law, customs will physically examine goods to verify whether the nature, origin, condition, quantity and value of inbound and outbound goods match the detailed information submitted in the customs declaration. Inspection is a statutory power granted by the state to customs authorities and an indispensable step in customs clearance.

Container inspection will incur extra charges. These fees are not collected by customs, but by the terminal, including lifting and unstuffing fees. Such charges arise due to customs inspection and are commonly referred to as customs inspection fees by terminals, who will issue official invoices.

The above inspection fees shall be borne by the shipper. Generally, a notice of inspection will be issued prior to inspection, and an inspection report will be released upon completion.

Inspection is a vital supervision measure adopted by customs, while customs declaration is merely a procedure. Customs will conduct random inspections on sensitive commodity names based on their experience and prevailing policies. In some cases, random inspections may also be carried out without specific reasons. During inspection, containers will be opened for verification against declaration documents, including commodity description, quantity, declared value, etc. Customs will check for tax fraud, inspection exemption evasion and incorrect HS code classification.

Customs does not charge inspection fees. However, inspections are performed at port areas, where terminal services such as unstuffing, loading/unloading and resealing are required. Terminal service fees shall be paid to the port authority in accordance with national regulations.

Customs Inspection Process

Once customs decides to inspect the shipment, the on-duty document examiner prints the Inspection Advice Note and prepares a customs sealed envelope for the customs declarer if necessary.

An inspection schedule will be arranged by the on-site inspection team. Normally, inspection tasks confirmed on the same day will be scheduled for the next working day.

During inspection, the consignee of import goods, consignor of export goods or their authorized customs declarer shall be present to assist with cargo shifting, unpacking and repacking. Customs may conduct direct inspection, re-inspection or sample collection when deemed necessary.

Upon completion of inspection, the accompanying representative shall sign and confirm on the Inspection Record.

Methods of Customs Inspection

1. Full Inspection: Every carton/package is opened and checked. Commodity type, specifications, quantity, weight, origin and cargo condition are verified one by one against the customs declaration.

2. Random Sampling Inspection: Selected cartons/packages are opened for inspection at a certain proportion. Cargo unloading is required. The extent of unloading and sampling ratio shall meet inspection requirements for commodity name, specifications, quantity, weight and other specified items.

3. Visual Examination: Only packaging, marks and trademarks are checked. This method applies to bulky machinery and bulk raw materials that are difficult to move. In addition, customs applies technical tools such as weighbridges and X-ray scanners to support inspection.

From the acceptance of inspection application to the completion of inspection and feedback of results, the whole process shall not exceed 48 hours. Export goods shall be released within half a working day after inspection. Time limits are not applicable where smuggling or irregularities are identified during inspection.

Purposes and Venues of Customs Inspection

Purposes

1. Cross-check physical goods against declaration documents to confirm consistency. Inspection helps discover misdeclaration, false declaration, underreporting and other smuggling or non-compliance issues that cannot be identified solely through document review.

2. Verify doubts raised during document examination and provide reliable supervision evidence for duty assessment, statistics and subsequent administration.

Venues

Customs inspections are generally carried out at ports, railway stations, airports, post offices or other supervised premises within customs-controlled zones. For bulk cargo, dangerous goods, perishables and transshipped goods, inspection and release may be performed at the operation site upon application by consignees or consignors. Under special circumstances, customs officers may conduct inspection at factories, warehouses or construction sites outside designated premises upon application and approval.

Common Inspection Checkpoints & Typical Errors

A. Commodity Description

A frequent error is confusion between technical names and common names. Translation discrepancies between multi-meaning English terms and actual product names also cause mismatches.

B. Specifications

Some suppliers mistakenly input carton dimensions as product specifications. For multi-specification products, both maximum and minimum sizes must be stated. Irregular items may have two length measurements (top dimension and bottom dimension).

C. Quantity

Total quantity is checked. Common mistakes involve under-declaration with excess physical goods, especially for tax rebate shipments. This usually occurs when declaration documents are prepared in advance and quantity changes after container loading are not updated.

D. Weight

Two typical weight errors:

1. The gross weight and net weight of bulk cargo deviate from actual weight by more than 3%-5%.

2. For weight-priced goods, some exporters only know gross weight and calculate net weight manually. They use an approximate formula to reverse-calculate net weight, which often conflicts with actual measurement. One case showed mismatched weights printed on carton shipping marks and customs declaration forms. Customs identified the discrepancy without opening the container, because cartons were pre-printed before final weighing.

E. Packages

Tail cartons, samples and free gifts are often omitted from total package count. One shipper loaded 4–5 cartons of third-party goods purchased in China at the container door without updating the total packages.

F. Shipping Marks

Some goods carry shipping marks with product information or logos. If marks exist, relevant details must be declared on the customs form.

G. Intellectual Property Infringement

Customs checks for famous brands, counterfeit goods, factory marks, hang tags, registered ® symbols and logos.

H. Origin

Origin means the place of production. Packaging may contain origin or advertising information. Errors frequently occur in triangular trade, e.g. a Singapore company purchasing goods from China and reselling to Russian buyers. Incorrect origin information will result in clearance failure.

I. Commodity Classification

HS code must be accurate. Multi-functional products are error-prone. For example, a tablet with calling function shall be classified as a mobile phone instead of a tablet computer.

J. New / Used Status

Many used items are prohibited for export. Machinery loaded in open-top or flat racks may get wet and be misjudged as second-hand goods. Household goods in relocation shipments are another common scenario.

K. Price

For each HS code, customs maintains a price reference range in its system: one for the local port and a national benchmark range. Price verification is stricter for imports, while exports face relatively milder checks.

L. Sampling & Laboratory Test

This is less common, mainly applied to chemical products requiring laboratory analysis which cannot be judged visually.

M. Vehicle Inspection

For cross-border transport between Mainland China and Hong Kong, customs inspects container trucks.

N. Container Inspection

Ordinary containers are not subject to detailed container shell inspection. Special containers will be checked more thoroughly.

O. Concealed Cargo

Customs checks for undeclared or non-produced items hidden inside containers. Common examples include cured meat, sausages, brand-name televisions, books and electric bicycles.