Smuggling of solid waste in bonded warehousing entrepot trade

Smuggling of solid waste in bonded warehousing entrepot trade

Q: When our company organizes the processing and production of imported materials, in order to expand profits, some solid wastes are hidden when importing materials and parts, which are seized by the customs, what kind of punishment will my company receive?

Answer: The specific legal consequences should be determined in combination with the type, quantity, and value of smuggled solid waste. In accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 152 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Criminal Law"), if the circumstances are serious, and the circumstances are serious, the person shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and/or a fine; where the circumstances are especially serious, a sentence of five or more years imprisonment and a concurrent fine is to be given. According to Article 14 of the Interpretation on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Handling of Criminal Cases of Smuggling (Fa Shi [2014] No. 10), smuggling waste that is prohibited from being imported by the state or waste that can be used as raw materials that can be used as raw materials restricted by the state shall be found to be "serious circumstances" as provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 152 of the Criminal Law:(1) smuggling hazardous solid waste or liquid waste prohibited by the state from being imported separately or in aggregate reaching more than one ton but less than five tons; (2) smuggling non-hazardous solid wastes or liquid wastes that are prohibited from being imported by the State, respectively or in aggregate of more than 5 tons but less than 25 tons; (3) Smuggling solid wastes and liquid wastes that can be used as raw materials that are restricted from being imported by the state, respectively, or in aggregate of 20 tons or more but less than 100 tons; (4) Where the above quantitative standards are not reached, but are the ringleaders of a criminal group, using special vehicles to engage in smuggling activities, or causing serious environmental pollution. Therefore, if the solid waste smuggled by your company is a waste prohibited by the state or a waste that can be used as a raw material restricted by the state, and it meets the circumstances determined by the above laws and regulations, your company constitutes the crime of smuggling waste and may have to accept the corresponding criminal punishment.

If the solid waste smuggled by your company does not meet the circumstances determined by the above laws and regulations, and does not constitute the crime of smuggling waste, or although it constitutes the crime of smuggling waste, it has not been prosecuted by the procuratorate due to other circumstances, or has been prosecuted by the procuratorate but has been exempted from criminal punishment by the court, then your company's behavior shall constitute smuggling, and the specific administrative punishment consequences of your smuggling behavior shall be determined in combination with whether the smuggled solid waste is a goods prohibited from import and export by the state, and whether it involves licenses, taxes, etc. According to Article 7, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations on the Implementation of Customs Administrative Penalties, a person who violates the Customs Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, evades customs supervision, evades the tax payable, evades the state's prohibitive or restrictive management of entry and exit, evades customs supervision by concealing, camouflaging, concealing, making false declarations or other means, and transports, carries, or mails goods or articles that are prohibited or restricted from entering or leaving the country or goods or articles for which taxes shall be paid in accordance with the law through the place where the customs is established. According to Article 7, Paragraph 2 of the Regulations on the Implementation of Customs Administrative Penalties, a person who violates the Customs Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, evades customs supervision, evades the tax payable, evades the state's prohibitive or restrictive management of entry and exit, evades customs supervision by concealing, camouflaging, concealing, making false declarations or other means, and transports, carries, or mails goods or articles that are prohibited or restricted from entering or leaving the country or goods or articles for which taxes shall be paid in accordance with the law through the place where the customs is established. In accordance with the provisions of subparagraphs (1), (2) and (3) of the first paragraph of Article 9 of the Regulations, any person who commits any of the acts listed in Articles 7 and 8 of these Regulations shall be punished in accordance with the following provisions: (1) Those who smuggle goods prohibited by the state from being imported or exported shall have the smuggled goods and illegal gains confiscated and may be fined up to 1 million yuan; Those who smuggle items prohibited from entering or leaving the country by the state shall confiscate the smuggled goods and unlawful gains, and may also impose a fine of up to 100,000 yuan; (2) Where a permit should be submitted but fails to do so but does not evade taxes, or smuggles goods or articles restricted from entering or leaving the country by the state, the smuggled goods, articles and unlawful gains shall be confiscated, and a fine of less than the equivalent value of the smuggled goods or articles may be imposed; (3) Whoever evades the tax payable but does not evade the management of the permit, and smuggles goods or articles for which taxes shall be paid in accordance with the law, confiscates the smuggled goods and articles and unlawful gains, and may be concurrently fined up to 3 times the amount of tax payable. Overall, the goods smuggled by your company should be confiscated and fines imposed.

Typical case: After the investigation of X Customs, the party concerned, an energy technology company, has committed the following illegal acts:

During January 2022, the party declared a total of 29,600 kilograms of polysilicon under the customs declaration form of import XXXXX0221000000765 and No. XXXXX0221000001270 in the name of an international logistics company in the form of warehousing entrepot trade in the bonded zone. After investigation, the above-mentioned goods belong to the solid waste prohibited by the state from being imported, and the party concerned falsely reported the specifications and models to smuggle the imported solid waste. On November 16, 2022 and November 19, 2022, the parties returned the goods involved in the case out of the country, and the customs declaration number was XXXXX0220000882482 and XXXXX0220000891564. Wang, as the person in charge of the company, should also bear responsibility for violating the law. The above acts are evidenced by evidence such as customs declarations No. XXXXX0221000000765, XXXXX0221000001270, XXXXX0220000882482, and No. XXXXX0220000891564 and accompanying documents, inspection records, identification reports, party statements, interrogation records, and witness testimony.

Legal Analysis and Compliance Guidelines: In accordance with the provisions of Article 7 (2) of the Regulations on the Implementation of Customs Administrative Penalties, violating the Customs Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, evading customs supervision, evading tax payable, evading the state's prohibitive or restrictive management of entry and exit, evading customs supervision by concealing, camouflaging, concealing, falsifying or otherwise evading customs supervision through the place where customs is established, transporting, carrying or mailing goods or articles whose entry or exit are prohibited or restricted by the state or goods for which taxes should be paid in accordance with the law, When goods enter or leave the country, it is an act of smuggling.

In accordance with the provisions of Article 9, Paragraph 1 (1) of the Implementing Regulations, whoever commits any of the acts listed in Articles 7 and 8 of these Regulations and smuggles goods prohibited by the state from being imported or exported shall have the smuggled goods and illegal gains confiscated and may be fined up to 1 million yuan; Those who smuggle items prohibited by the state from entering or leaving the country shall have the smuggled goods and unlawful gains confiscated, and may be concurrently fined up to 100,000 yuan. In this case, in January 2022, the party declared a total of 29,600 kilograms of polysilicon under the import XXXXX0221000000765 and customs declaration form No. XXXXX0221000001270 in the name of an international logistics company in the bonded zone. The above-mentioned goods are solid wastes prohibited from being imported by the state, and the parties concerned smuggled them into the country by falsely reporting specifications and models. After the case was discovered, the parties returned the solid waste involved in the case and shipped it out of the country.

Based on the above, in accordance with the provisions of Paragraph 1 of Article 115 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, Paragraph 5 of Article 32 of the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 32 of the Regulations on the Implementation of Administrative Penalties of the Customs of the People's Republic of China, and Item 2 of Article 8, Paragraph 8 of the Customs of the People's Republic of China on the Discretionary Criteria for Administrative Penalties (I) (Announcement No. 182 of the General Administration of Customs in 2023), It was decided to impose the following administrative penalties on the parties: X Customs decided to impose a fine of RMB 250,000 on an energy technology company of the parties. A warning was given to the party Wang.

Recommended Reading:

What are the consequences of exporting goods and using a company that has been deregistered overseas as the consignee?

The exporter's invoice was overstated by $600,000, and the freight forwarder was fined for negligently using the wrong invoice

1 imported drying furnace, voluntarily disclosed that the operation failure was fined more than 1.45 million?

How to characterize the export of gambling chips that have not been declared?

Cockroaches lying in beef noodles

When he returned home from shopping in South Korea, he did not declare that he was convicted of smuggling

The crime of smuggling goods and articles prohibited by the state from importing and exporting: several normative sources of "prohibited" and related cases

Processing Trade Manual: False declaration of documents, consumption of smuggling, criminal non-prosecution, administrative punishment after non-prosecution

Cross-border e-commerce direct purchase (9610) regulatory method to declare the export of obscene materials

Logistics companies collude with other companies to smuggle by falsely reporting trade methods, product names and prices

The Customs Law was passed: Individuals need to enhance their awareness of customs tax-related legal risks

The freight forwarding company declared 8 bills of aluminum ingots on behalf of customers, and employees were fined more than 140,000 yuan for using the wrong certificate of origin

Declared the import of 2 game cartridges and was fined 800,000

The declaration of exporting two bird-repellent drones was fined more than 120,000 yuan

Import goods with coconut mango flavored shower gel, need a dual-use item and technology import license?

Imported substandard food must be destroyed and disposed of without authorization to feed livestock to others

Knowing that the Korean customer had sent more pomfret when he delivered the goods, he failed to truthfully declare that it constituted smuggling

Export of dangerous goods: two types of legal risks, three compliance suggestions