SCIO press conference on China Customs' efforts to safeguard borders, advance Chinese modernization
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 24, 2023
Zhonghongwang:
We noticed that in 2022, in response to backlogs of dangerous goods exported at some ports, customs organized a 100-day campaign for the comprehensive management of dangerous goods at ports. What is the specific content of this campaign, and how effective has it been so far? After the end of the special campaign, will the results be fixed as a long-term mechanism to continue to play a corresponding role? Thank you.
Yu Jianhua:
Port security is indeed a major responsibility of customs, and we have a high sense of responsibility to prevent and resolve risks in this area. Let's invite Mr. Sun to answer the questions.
Sun Yuning:
Coordinating development and security and giving full attention to every-minute workplace safety is an important instruction General Secretary Xi Jinping made for workplace safety. Customs have kept this instruction in mind, adhered to the principle that safety management must go with business management, and continuously ensured workplace safety at ports with a sense of responsibility to always remain alert.
Since last year, some imported dangerous goods have been kept for long periods of time at ports due to the pandemic, and along with scorching weather, risks to workplace safety have risen. In response, we launched a 100-day special action campaign to comprehensively manage dangerous goods at customs ports across the country, cleared more than 2,400 batches of dangerous goods accumulated at ports because of the pandemic, investigated and found more than 1,600 batches that were not cataloged or spuriously reported, and filed over 500 administrative punishment cases. The overall clearance time for dangerous goods has been reduced by more than 60%, ensuring the safe and stable operation of ports.
We believe that the end of the 100-day special action campaign is not the end of our efforts. China is a big trader of dangerous goods. With the accelerated economic recovery, the country's import and export of dangerous goods have increased remarkably. At the same time, despite efforts to hit back against all types of illegal behavior, illegal issues still exist, such as companies not reporting, lowering the danger level while reporting, or underreporting dangerous goods, which has posed a serious challenge to customs' safe and efficient regulation. This year, we will focus on our work in the following three respects:
First, we will continue to enhance integrated management. Last year's 100-day special action campaign addressed the problem of dangerous goods stored for long periods of time at ports. This year, we launched a half-year special action to crack down on unreported or spuriously reported dangerous goods. We will combine efforts to crack down, regulate, and deter and fully strengthen risk prevention and control, on-spot supervision, and follow-up inspections to improve the regulation chain and realize coordination in law enforcement of customs nationwide. In the meantime, coordinated law enforcement will be enhanced to cement regulatory networks for workplace safety with relevant departments.
Second, we will advance regular governance. The effective experience and practices gained from special actions should be fixed as regular governance measures. This aims to prevent the recurrence of the accumulation of goods at ports and keep up the pressure against unreported or spuriously reported goods so as to smooth the way for law-abiding companies and make law-breakers pay the price. Meanwhile, we will improve the regulatory efficiency of the entry and exit of dangerous goods and deepen the reform of the relevant supervision and inspection model. Currently, we have launched pilot programs at five ports, including Shanghai, and will soon summarize and assess the experience to apply these steps across the country.
Third, we will prevent major safety risks. To be specific, while comprehensively managing dangerous goods at ports, we will focus on health and quarantine, animal and plant quarantine, food safety, law enforcement safety, laboratory safety, and other key areas. We will repeatedly and continuously ensure the identification, ranking, and elimination of security risks, prioritize prevention, and stick to the bottom line of safety and the red line for regulation.
Thank you.
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