In order to further promote cross-border e-commerce exports, the General Administration of Customs recently issued an announcement announcing that starting from April 1, 2026, the cross-customs area return model for cross-border e-commerce retail export commodities will be promoted in customs nationwide.
The cross-customs return of cross-border e-commerce retail export goods (customs supervision code: 9610) refers to a supervision model in which cross-border e-commerce companies no longer have to return the goods to the original export customs when the goods are returned overseas. Instead, they can flexibly choose any customs port across the country to handle the return and entry procedures.
It is reported that the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement in November 2024, clarifying that starting from December 15 of that year, 20 customs directly under the jurisdiction of Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Harbin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Chengdu, and Urumqi will carry out pilot projects for cross-border e-commerce retail export returns supervision models across customs areas. After a year of piloting, the conditions are now ready for nationwide promotion.
According to the requirements of this announcement, cross-customs return is only applicable to cross-border e-commerce retail export goods, which is the "9610 model". At the same time, cross-border e-commerce retail export returned goods can be returned across customs areas, but the returned goods are only allowed to be returned to customs-supervised workplaces or sites where cross-border e-commerce retail export business is carried out.
In addition, the announcement also clarified that enterprises that carry out cross-border e-commerce retail export return business across customs areas should operate in a standardized manner and have independent operational functional areas. The relevant production operation system data should be opened to the customs or connected with the customs information system.
As a new format of international trade, cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly in recent years and has become an important engine for the growth of my country's foreign trade. However, with the rapid development of cross-border e-commerce, the problem of cross-border returns has always been a pain point and difficulty that plagues the development of the industry.
The relevant person in charge of the General Administration of Customs said that the introduction of the cross-customs return policy aims to solve the industry pain points of "difficulty, high cost and long cycle of returns" under the traditional model, and provide enterprises with a more efficient and economical reverse logistics channel, thereby improving the consumer shopping experience and enhancing the international competitiveness of enterprises. In addition, combined with the preferential tax policy for cross-border e-commerce exports and returned goods jointly issued by the Ministry of Finance and other three departments in February this year, a synergistic and superimposed effect of policies can be formed to jointly reduce costs and increase efficiency for cross-border e-commerce companies.