Qualifications
Import licences in China attach to the importer, not to the shipment. A product that is fully compliant in its home market still cannot clear customs if the receiving party does not hold the right category licence.
Every licence below is listed with the legal entity that holds it, and what it allows us to bring in.
Customs does not only ask what the product is. It asks whether the company named on the declaration may bring that class of goods in at all.
No single entity can hold them all, so Harvest An Tai operates together with a small group of affiliated companies under common ownership and control.
Your contract may be with Harvest An Tai while the declaration is made by the affiliate holding the licence. We name that entity before you ship.
The highest customs credit grade in China, and China’s counterpart to the AEO status used in the EU — covered by mutual recognition arrangements between China Customs and a number of other administrations. In practice: lower inspection rates, priority treatment when inspection does happen, and a named customs contact.
Our AEO code can be verified independently.
Two things are required, and holding one does not substitute for the other: a licence to trade in hazardous chemicals at all, and a registered inventory of which specific substances may be imported. If your substance is not yet on that list, it can in many cases be added — we handle that process.
Under current practice the competent authority no longer issues a standalone certificate for this. The registration is maintained as a list of substances, extended or added to as needed — which is what should be checked. All 55 are registered for import, and the list includes crude petroleum oil, methanol, dichloromethane, formaldehyde solution, phosphoric acid and denatured ethanol.
Devices are classified by risk class, and the licence differs by class. Class II requires a business record-filing, which we hold through two affiliated entities — a registration with the competent authority, not a discretionary licence. The distinction matters when your compliance team maps our licences against your own.
Artworks and exhibition pieces move under their own regime, with record-filings covering import, export, sale and agency. One of the two holders also handles commercial exhibitions — relevant if your shipment is entering China for a show rather than for sale.
Terms used on this page
Before you commit to anything
Send us the product, its intended use in China and the country of origin. We confirm which category it falls into, which licence is required, and whether we hold it.
Ask about your product