A change in the rules has allowed foreign trading companies in Guangdong province the convenience of going to any customs checkpoint for clearance of imports and exports.

The new development signals the full integration of customs declaration throughout the province, providing importers and exporters the maximum flexibility and convenience, said Liu Jiansan, deputy chief of Shenzhen Customs.

Another official from the customs clearance supervision department of Shenzhen Customs said all customs procedures in the province have been connected through an information network, or a virtual "regional customs clearance center".

The new mode has broken down the boundaries of different customs departments in the province and provided enterprises with a uniform platform, the official said.

Since the integration process began in September, there have been 3.6 million customs declarations, half of which involved Shenzhen enterprises. The average time for customs clearance has been shortened from 8.3 hours to six hours.

Deputy Director of Guangdong Sub-Administration of China Customs He Li said the new mode could reduce enterprises' costs by 20 to 30 percent. "The process of customs clearance is much faster than before," said Zheng Liyu of Baoju, a company in Dongguan specializing in the production of children products. For example, the declaration for the import of 200,000 yuan ($32317) worth of raw materials took only three minutes to complete, she said.

Zheng Qinming from China Wonderland, another children product manufacturing company in Dongguan, said: "In the past, the customs clearance charge was a sizeable expense. But now, with the adoption of the integrated mode, we are able to save an average 65,000 yuan per month."

Having benefited from the reform, many enterprises hope that the integration could be expanded to the national level.

"Some of our products go through customs outside Guangdong province," said Xia Zhonghui, customs director of ZTE Corporation, a Shenzhen-based company that produces telecommunications equipment. The company has a global sales network covering the Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

sally@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/10/2014 page8)