By Mr.Li Hang, vice mayor of Liuyang Municuipal Governmentt

Experiences of supervising system of export fireworks in Liuyang

Honorable leaders, experts and friends,

First of all, I¡¯d like to extend my warm welcome and sincere thanks for your presence. Thank you for your care and support of Liuyang fireworks and your hard work and selfless devotion in facilitating the customs clearance!

As fireworks are displayed at festivals and big events, they have brought us enormous happiness. However, our government and relevant departments must take on the responsibility of safety supervision and management. In recent yeas, problems that cannot be neglected have occurred in the storage and transport of fireworks, greatly impeding its development, so the issue of storage and transport safety has drawn a lot of attention. In order to strengthen the supervision over fireworks storage and transport safety, to establish a cooperation mechanism in this connection, and to improve the logistics customs clearance, we, with great support of  governments and departments at higher levels, have broken through outmoded conventions and conducted many negotiations with the Ministry of Water Transportation, the Ministry of Transport, the Entry and Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the Maritime Safety Administration and the General Administration of Customs. We officially established the project to facilitate customs clearance for export fireworks with the Shanghai Customs district. Now please allow me to give you a brief introduction to this project.

With its cores being ¡°inspection at production origin, concentrated loading supervision, sealing containers on the spot, and Customs transfer transportation¡±, the implementation methods include:

1.        Putting in place an access system.

Through dynamic assessment of the quality credit of export production and management companies, we can inform port management sections to put on file the production enterprises, foreign trade companies and warehouse logistics corporations that are eligible for national export qualification and compliant with the quality credit standards of Liuyang fireworks. Liuyang has set up a safety quality credit system and a product license system on that basis, stipulating that products not conforming with export standards cannot be exported. Enterprises that have had major accidents or poor credit must be put on the blacklist, with all ports notified on the Internet to block their Customs clearance.

2.        Implementing one-stop Customs clearance service of  ¡°inspection at production origin, concentrated loading supervision, sealing containers on the spot, and Customs transfer transportation¡±

The Liuyang branch of the Hunan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau tests the quality of export products by sampling and sticking a CIQ tag on the containers of approved products. Companies that export fireworks provide a public fireworks and firecrackers warehouse in the production areas with a delivery bill on which the name, number and type of the approved products are listed. After approval, the products are delivered to the public fireworks and firecrackers warehouse center in Liuyang, before being tagged with the CIQ seal, loading certificate, and export cargo inspection certificate. And after making a declaration at the relevant Customs authorities in Hunan, the export companies can send the products to the ports. Thereupon the merchandise inspection departments check the CIQ seal and related documents before the products are shipped. The whole process is brief and convenient. Moreover, we are exploring to further improve the concentrated loading supervision and seeking a more scientific mode combining producing, packing, and monitoring in decentralization so as to reduce safety pressure and cost.

3.        Carrying out linkage supervision and management among departments.

To promote the common surveillance of producing areas and the Customs, an all-directional electronic monitor system installed at fixed loading points of the warehouse center will record the information of all products. Meanwhile, the production areas, the Hunan Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and the port departments concerned will implement network supervision by around-the-clock video records. Port departments can examine loading in the production areas, transportation and product information at any time, as well as implementing remote monitoring and management by sending out instructions through the Internet.

4.        Practicing quality commitment system.

Firstly, after the loading and sealing of the products at the public fireworks and firecrackers warehouse, two documents will be needed, viz. a loading bill drawn up in accordance with the regulations and a ¡°Loading Quality Commitment Letter¡±. Secondly, the administrative departments of the governments of the production areas and the public fireworks and firecrackers warehouse should make concerted efforts to compile and sign the quality commitment letter, which should be submitted to the relevant port sections after being sealed. For example, at the Shanghai Customs District, four copies of the quality commitment letters are to be submitted, respectively, to the Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau as an inspection declaration, the Shanghai Maritime Safety Bureau as a maritime declaration, the Shanghai Port Authority as a shipping declaration and the docks of Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Ltd. as a longshoring declaration. Products without this commitment letter will be refused.

To speed up the project to facilitate Customs clearance for export fireworks, we have established seven large-scale fireworks and firecrackers logistics storage bases---Feili Storage Logistics Co. Ltd., Hunan Zhongwang Storage Logistics Co. Ltd., Huayang Storage Logistics Co. Ltd., Liuyang Sufucangma Storage Logistics Co. Ltd., Liuyang Chengxiang Fireworks Storage Logistics Co. Ltd., Ruida Storage Logistics Co. Ltd.(building), and Liuyang Huihuangliantong Storage Logistics Co. Ltd. They cover an area of 110 acres, with 129 warehouses totaling 130,000 square meters, 12 of which are 12 A-level and 117 of which are C-level, and remote monitoring is put in place in three of these companies. These bases facilitate the companies¡¯ problems with Customs clearance and they also organize supervised motorcades to make tailor-made transport.

The one-year operation of the project is fruitful.

1.        Shipment ensured.

After the export ban at Sanshui Port and Nansha Port, our fireworks have been shipped through the project from Shanghai, Beihai, Zhaoyin and other ports.

2.        Safety ensured.

Port departments in charge do not need to inspect the containers after their arrival (ports hold such right), thus cutting down the middle links and avoiding possible damage. As regards illegal transport and the smuggling of raw materials, dangerous cargos will be effectively monitored by the access system and the comprehensive video supervision will eliminate potential threats in time. Furthermore, the relatively short period of time that the cargos stay in the ports reduces security pressure.

3.        Efficiency improved.

Electronic data of the cargos are recorded in advance, so that the Customs and Inspection and Quarantine Bureau just need to examine the records and discharge the cargos after confirmation, greatly promoting clearance efficiency.

4.        Cost saved.

Investment is reduced, since inspection fields are unnecessary at ports and invisible expense is saved by the reduction in the total amount of time during clearance.

5.        Procedures facilitated.

The latest progress on Customs clearance and export of cargos is released on public service platforms established by relevant departments and companies. In this way companies can take the initiative by following the cargos directly on the Internet and preparing the relevant documents and procedures.

In conclusion, the project to facilitate Customs clearance for export fireworks is still in the midst of the running-in stage and waiting to be improved. Therefore, despite the undeniable results so far, we must further emancipate our minds and make innovations to remove obstacles and improve efficiency. In the future, adhering to the tenet of ¡°time-saving, trouble-saving, and cost-saving¡± and expecting the unremitting support from the relevant departments, we will step up our efforts to make breakthroughs to set up a grand project facilitating Customs clearance for export fireworks with the purpose of ¡°concentration, convenience, economy and efficiency¡±.