Bonded maintenance business expands, new energy vehicle power batteries can also be 'repaired in China'

Ningbo Customs officers conduct research at bonded maintenance enterprises. Photo by Chen Kang

Chao News reporter Li Hua, correspondent Chen Kang, and Zhu Wei
　　   
The export volume of new energy vehicles is increasing day by day. In the future, the "heart" power batteries for exporting new energy vehicles can also be returned to China for bonded maintenance, further eliminating worries for new energy vehicles going abroad.
On December 16, 2025, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued Announcement No. 82 of 2025 (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), announcing and officially implementing the fourth batch of comprehensive bonded zone maintenance product catalog. The announcement has added multiple product maintenance services, including communication base stations and automotive power batteries, injecting new impetus into the construction of a "global testing and maintenance center" in the comprehensive bonded zone.
Bonded maintenance refers to the transportation of goods with damaged parts, functional failures, quality defects, and other issues by enterprises within the comprehensive bonded zone through bonded means, from overseas or outside the zone, to the comprehensive bonded zone for testing and repair. After the repair is completed, the goods are transported back to overseas or outside the zone. This model can effectively reduce global operation and maintenance costs for enterprises and enhance supply chain resilience.
The newly added maintenance catalog involves 179 tax codes in 11 chapters, including maintenance services for communication base stations, railway locomotives, yachts, automotive power batteries, and other products. The maintenance catalog tax codes have increased from 97 in the previous three batches to 276.
The Announcement clarifies two important breakthroughs: firstly, allowing enterprises within the zone to carry out bonded maintenance services for the group's domestically produced and exported mechanical and electrical products outside the country, without being restricted by the comprehensive bonded zone maintenance product catalog and the prohibited import old mechanical and electrical product catalog; The second is to allow enterprises within the zone to carry out bonded maintenance business for the products produced globally and sold domestically by the group, and to return them to China or export them directly overseas after maintenance.
Prior to the official announcement of the catalog, Ningbo Customs had proactively anchored the needs of industrial development, cracked development bottlenecks with innovative measures, and transformed practical actions into policy dividends, tailoring a "one-stop, embedded, and seamless" intelligent supervision service system.
The innovative and convenient regulatory environment has attracted three enterprises in the zone to carry out bonded maintenance services for products such as LCD panels, backlight modules, computer application systems, and data communication system equipment. At the same time, it has spurred breakthrough business implementation. In 2025, Ningbo Saili Automotive Parts Co., Ltd., authorized by Geely Automobile, successfully launched the first imported gearbox bonded maintenance business in Zhejiang Province in the Ningbo Free Trade Zone. In 2025, Ningbo Customs will supervise a total of 141600 bonded maintenance items entering and leaving the zone, with a value of 43.05 million yuan.
The continuous empowerment of policies has opened up broader space for industries. In 2025, Ningbo Customs actively researched the needs of enterprises and successfully promoted two products, including modems and routers, to enter the national maintenance catalog, directly responding to the voices of enterprises in the region. From early LCD panel maintenance to today's automotive gearboxes and high-end routers, the maintenance business in Ningbo Comprehensive Bonded Zone is steadily moving towards diversification, high technology, and high added value.