China Customs: Import & Export Prohibited Items & Duties

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

Below is a guide to China 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 New Zealand to China.

Returning to China from New Zealand: China Customs Prohibited Items and Tariffs

Items Restricted from Entry by China 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 China Customs

1. All types of weapons, replica weapons, ammunition, and explosives;
2. Counterfeit currency and counterfeit negotiable securities;
3. Printed matter, 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 highly toxic 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 and animal health, come from epidemic areas, or may transmit diseases.

China 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 taxes 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 some don't — it largely comes down to luck.

The larger, heavier, higher-declared-value, and greater-quantity a parcel is, the higher the chance of inspection; the smaller, lighter, lower-value, and fewer-item a parcel is, the lower the chance of inspection. Parcels over 8 pounds have a significantly 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 New Zealand, Seapoe integrates premium channels to provide door-to-door transport services for small items returning to China, billed by box, with favorable prices and high cost-effectiveness.

II. Shipping Furniture and Large Luggage Back to China

For furniture, large luggage, and similar items, Seapoe has stable and reliable customs clearance experience and capability with China customs, and is able to assist clients in legally and compliantly clearing customs smoothly in the vast majority of cases.

China to New Zealand: Items Prohibited from Exit by China Customs

Items Restricted from Exit by China Customs

1. All items listed within the scope of prohibited entry;
2. Manuscripts, printed matter, 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 China 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. Precious traditional Chinese medicinal materials;
6. Ordinary cultural relics;
7. Other items restricted from exit by customs.

● New Zealand Customs Policy:
New Zealand Customs Prohibited Items / Sea Freight Customs Clearance / Tariffs / Tax Exemption Guide

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