China streamlines customs clearance in two more areas

BEIJING - Two coastal regions including Guangdong province and the Yangtze River economic zone are the most recent areas to join in customs clearance reform, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on Monday.

Aimed at shortening clearance procedures, the reforms will ease restrictions on goods. They will greatly facilitate flow of goods into the country, according to the administration.

The first batch of cities from the Yangtze River delta to enact the reforms will be Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo and Hefei, the GAC said. In Guangdong, only air and maritime transport were included, with overland freight set to get listed on December 1.

Shijiazhuang, a city and railway hub less than 300 km from Beijing, was included on Monday in the program of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area which was the first in China when it started three months ago.