Customs surety insurance to help lower costs for SMEs

The Beijing Customs District under the General Administration of Customs of China will introduce customs surety insurance from Sept 1, as part of its ongoing efforts to lower costs for small and medium-sized enterprises and improve efficiency.

"The new insurance scheme has been developed by the customs agency and an insurance company. It is the first time that the customs agency is introducing an insurance product as a new type of customs bond," said Zhou Gonghua, chairman of Bank of China Group Insurance Co Ltd. Under the terms, importers are policyholders while the customs agency is the insured, according to Zhou.

A customs surety bond is a contract used for guaranteeing that a specific obligation will be fulfilled between customs and an importer for any given import transaction. The main purpose is to guarantee the payment of import duties and taxes.