Animal & plant products

Not necessarily. Some materials are prohibited from ordinary entry but can move under a special approval granted for a defined purpose, such as scientific research. We have imported soil samples for university research on that route, with review at both the local customs district and General Administration level.

Each level applies its own documentary standard, and a query at either level restarts the clock. The practical consequence is that the file has to be right the first time, which is where most of the work sits.

No. Outbound germplasm is controlled as a genetic resource and needs its own approval from the agricultural authorities, alongside a phytosanitary certificate and exporting registration. For seed, a delay costs a growing season rather than a delivery window.

No. The supervision condition on the heading is a first filter, not the scope of the regime. Where any component derives from a listed species, a permit is required even though the code shows no condition — a wooden article whose description says nothing about its timber is the standard example. Components are checked against the CITES appendices and the two national protected species lists by Latin name, not by common name.

Only where the entry for that species explicitly excludes cultivated or captive-bred specimens. Where it does not, or where it states that all sources are controlled, a permit is needed whatever the source. The lists are adjusted periodically, so a determination made for an earlier shipment is evidence about the list as it then stood.

For ordinary consignments the system allows write-offs up to the applied-for quantity plus five percent, which is a tolerance for normal quantity variation rather than room for a second shipment. For prohibited material moving under special approval the answer is firmer: that permit is valid for one use and cannot be written off in instalments, so the consignment has to be consolidated before the application is made.