Yongpai: Promote cross-border e-commerce exports! Ningbo Customs introduces 12 measures

Ningbo Customs officers inspect cross-border e-commerce outbound packages in front of the sorting assembly line. Correspondent Wang Haitao/Photo

Yongpai Client Reporter Yan Jin Correspondents Lu Chenze, Hu Bobo, Li Huan
　　   
Currently, cross-border e-commerce has become an important engine driving China's foreign trade growth. Recently, Ningbo Customs has launched 12 measures to promote cross-border e-commerce exports by 2026 (hereinafter referred to as the measures), focusing on five dimensions including speeding up customs clearance, cultivating entities, expanding product categories, improving supervision, and monitoring and research, to help Ningbo build a high-level international hub city for cross-border e-commerce.
Improve logistics channels and solve the problem of returns
Logistics is the lifeline of cross-border e-commerce. The measures released this time start with the cross-border logistics chain, significantly improving customs clearance efficiency and enabling Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers to deliver their products to overseas consumers' homes faster.
The measures clearly propose to strengthen the linkage with international air cargo hubs such as Ezhou and Jiaxing, and expand multimodal transport modes such as cross-border e-commerce export "air to air transit" and "air to land intermodal transport"; Support the development of "International Road Transport (TIR)+Cross border E-commerce" and "Sea Rail Intermodal Transport+Cross border E-commerce" businesses; Optimize customs clearance docking and improve cross-border e-commerce transit efficiency.
The new policy of 'air to air intermodal transportation' by Ningbo Customs has completely broken the long-standing air route congestion, "said Xing Yutao, the person in charge of Ningbo SF Express Port. Under this model, local cross-border goods can achieve integrated port supervision and transit, without the need for secondary unpacking and customs declaration, and can directly connect to intercontinental routes. The customs clearance time is expected to be shortened by 30%, and the comprehensive logistics cost is expected to be reduced by 20%, significantly improving logistics stability and timeliness.
At the same time, measures are proposed to optimize the regulatory model for cross-border e-commerce. Support eligible enterprises to build cross-border e-commerce export pre warehouses and replicate and promote the "inspection before shipment" model; Promote the split order operation mode of cross-border e-commerce retail export (9610), explore the pilot of "sea freight fast ship+cross-border e-commerce 9610 export", and support the export of small packages across borders.
The split order operation mode solves the difficulties of cross-border small package shipment and long order collection cycle, which means that scattered orders can be independently declared and quickly exported, and the inventory turnover efficiency is significantly improved, which is conducive to reducing our overseas costs and enhancing market competitiveness, "said the person in charge of a local cross-border e-commerce enterprise in Ningbo.
As the logistics network continues to improve, the return problem that has been a headache for cross-border e-commerce sellers will find a smoother solution.
The measures propose to deepen the pilot program of cross-border e-commerce retail export (9610) goods returning across customs zones, and promote the cross-border return business from Ningbo Airport Port to Ningbo International Mail Exchange Center; Implement tax incentives for cross-border e-commerce export and return goods, and support tax-free return of export goods that meet regulations.
Previously, return packages for cross-border e-commerce retail exports could only be "shipped and received from where", with high costs and long cycles. In the cross customs return mode, sellers can flexibly choose more logistics nodes to improve the timeliness of return processing. For Ningbo Port, this policy is also beneficial for cross-border export retail goods from other regions across the country to be distributed in Ningbo, bringing business opportunities to logistics enterprises.
Strengthen cooperation between enterprises and stimulate market vitality
In order to promote the high-quality development of the cross-border e-commerce industry, Ningbo Customs will further extend supervision and services to the corporate governance link, deepen the collaborative governance between customs and enterprises, and jointly build a new ecosystem of compliant development.
On this basis, Ningbo Customs actively promotes the expansion and improvement of export categories, strives to carry out pilot projects for the export of cosmetics and other inspected goods through bonded e-commerce (1210), and further enriches the cross-border e-commerce export format; Continuously strengthening intellectual property protection, relying on the "Longteng" special action to crack down on infringement and illegal activities, and guiding enterprises to cultivate independent brands.
Data shows that in the first quarter of 2026, Ningbo Customs has seized 29 batches of cases of infringement of private independent intellectual property rights, and has detained over 150000 infringing goods.
A person in charge of a private enterprise in Ningbo said, "In recent years, Ningbo Customs has repeatedly helped us intercept infringing products. This strong protection allows our innovative research and development to have no worries and focus more on improving product competitiveness
At the same time, Ningbo Customs continues to promote the "graded classification" management of enterprises, and implements differentiated supervision based on enterprise credit management, combined with enterprise compliance level, credit status, and on-site supervision; Provide more facilitation measures for AEO enterprises (customs advanced certification enterprises), strengthen document review and inspection efforts for high-risk enterprises, and promote the standardized and orderly development of the industry.
While continuously releasing policy dividends, Ningbo Customs adheres to a balance between supervision and service, and further assists enterprises in compliance development by promoting standardized declaration of export lists and improving the "simplified declaration" model; Strengthen the management of export controlled items, enhance port territorial connectivity, and prevent the risk of illegal exports through cross-border e-commerce channels.
In addition, Ningbo Customs will also cooperate with the General Administration of Customs to participate in the revision of the World Customs Organization's (WCO) Cross border E-commerce Framework Standards; Continuously strengthen the monitoring and analysis of cross-border e-commerce export operations, providing strong support for industrial development and macro decision-making; Regularly conducting corporate compliance training to help companies accurately grasp overseas regulatory policies and technical standards, and continuously improve their export compliance level.
A series of reform measures have been implemented, injecting momentum into Ningbo's construction of a high-level open and strong city. The relevant person in charge of Ningbo Customs stated that the next step will be to promote the implementation of 12 measures one by one, continuously track the effectiveness of policy implementation, dynamically solve the difficulties and bottlenecks in enterprise customs clearance, and continuously stimulate new momentum in cross-border e-commerce and foreign trade through institutional innovation.