Gasoline is arguably the most familiar refined oil to us ordinary people. As an important power fuel for transportation, different gasoline has different quality, level, price and "nutritional content". Many people have used imported gasoline. What is gasoline? What types of gasoline does our country import? How does the customs supervise gasoline imports? This article will popularize the knowledge about gasoline and its import, so as to help you "refuel" efficiently and in compliance with regulations.
I. Introduction to Gasoline
01 Definition of Gasoline
Gasoline is a colorless to light yellow, volatile, flammable liquid extracted from petroleum. It is mainly composed of hydrocarbons and has a high octane number and anti-knock properties. According to the Modern Fuel Oil Handbook, gasoline usually refers to refined petroleum fractions with a distillation range from the initial boiling point to 205°C and containing appropriate additives. It is mainly used in vehicles equipped with spark-ignition engines such as cars and motorcycles. Distillation range refers to the boiling point range obtained by distilling petroleum under standard conditions, that is, the number and temperature of oil products that may be distilled out within a certain temperature range.
02 Classification of Gasoline
Classification by use: It is divided into motor gasoline and aviation gasoline. Motor gasoline has the properties of easy starting, rapid warm-up, easy acceleration, good anti-knock, etc., and contains very little colloid and corrosive substances. Compared with motor gasoline, aviation gasoline has higher octane number, strong anti-knock performance, good evaporation performance, easy transportation, good stability, and no deterioration in storage.
Classification by processing technology: Gasoline mainly comes from the direct distillation and secondary processing of petroleum crude oil, and it mainly includes straight-run gasoline, secondary processed gasoline, tertiary processed gasoline and others. At present, catalytic cracking gasoline accounts for more than 70% of my country's gasoline.
In addition, the ethanol gasoline that is more common to the public is a mixture of fuel ethanol processed from grains and various plant fibers and ordinary gasoline in a certain proportion.
03 Specifications of Gasoline
At present, the world's gasoline quality generally has four major standard systems: the United States, Europe, Japan, and China, which represent the mainstream of the world's gasoline development. Among the technical conditions of gasoline, important indicators include octane number (RON), lead content, distillation range (10%, 50%, 90% evaporation temperature, final distillation point and residual amount), sulfur content, benzene content, olefin content, aromatics content and oxygen content.
According to China's national standard (GB 17930-2016 Gasoline for Motor Vehicles), motor gasoline (China VI Standard) is divided into 89, 92, 95 and 98 grades based on the research octane number. Some people think that different grades represent different qualities. In fact, the grade of gasoline has nothing to do with the "purity" and "quality" of the gasoline. The grade represents the octane number, which indicates the anti-knock index of gasoline. The higher the octane number is, the better the anti-knock performance is. The octane number of No. 92 gasoline is not less than 92, and the octane number of No. 98 gasoline is not less than 98.
II. Import Declaration Requirements
01 Import Qualification and Trade Control
Business entity: Gasoline imports are subject to state-owned trade management, and only state-owned trading enterprises authorized by the Ministry of Commerce or registered non-state-owned trading enterprises are allowed to carry out such management. Relevant enterprises need to obtain the Automatic Import License (Supervision Condition 7), and the customs will handle the inspection and release procedures based on this.
Qualification requirements: Importing enterprises must have legal registration qualifications, good reputation and financial capabilities, and meet the conditions for operating hazardous chemicals.
02 Gasoline Declaration Tax Number
According to the Customs Import and Export Tariff of the People's Republic of China, the tax number for motor gasoline and aviation gasoline is 2710.1210, the MFN rate is 5%, the value-added tax rate is 13%, and the consumption tax rate is RMB 1.52/liter.
03 Declaration Materials
The consignee of imported gasoline or its agent shall declare to the customs in advance and submit the contract, invoice, packing list, bill of lading, Chinese safety data sheet (MSDS), declaration of conformity of enterprises importing hazardous chemicals and other materials.
It should be noted that gasoline is a hazardous chemical, so information such as cargo attributes, hazard category, packaging category, inspection and quarantine name, United Nations dangerous goods number (UN number), dangerous goods packaging mark and destination inspection and quarantine authority should be truthfully reported.
III. Customs Inspection and Supervision
Gasoline is a legally inspected commodity listed in the Catalogue of Hazardous Chemicals (2015 Edition)", with CAS number 86290-81-5 and UN number 3475. It is the third category of flammable liquids. Therefore, the imported gasoline must meet the requirements for quality indicators in the mandatory technical specifications (GB 17930-2016 Gasoline for Motor Vehicles or GB 1787-2018 Aviation Piston Engine Fuel), and must meet the requirements of the Announcement No. 129 [2020] of the GACC on the import and export of hazardous chemicals.
01 Document Review
After the enterprise or agent submits the declaration materials, the customs at the place where the application is made shall check the customs declaration form that has entered the manual examination channel according to regulations, examine the declaration contents according to the system risk warning instructions and relevant regulations, check whether the attached documents are complete, and notify the applicant to make corrections if the declaration materials are incomplete or do not meet the requirements.
02 On-site Inspection
For imported gasoline requiring port inspection, the customs shall check whether the Chinese safety data sheet attached to the goods meets the mandatory requirements of national technical specifications and whether the Declaration of Conformity of Enterprises Importing Hazardous Chemicals is consistent with the declaration. When sampling inspection is mandated by instructions, representative samples shall be selected in accordance with inspection specifications, and the Sampling Record Sheet must be completed concurrently.
03 Determination of Results
Based on the laboratory test results and combined with the mandatory requirements in GB 17930-2016 Gasoline for Motor Vehicles or GB 1787-2018 Aviation Piston Engine Fuel, a comprehensive assessment is carried out. If all inspection instructions are qualified, it will be released.
Tips: According to the Announcement on Adjusting the Supervision Methods for Weight Appraisal of Imported Bulk Commodities (Announcement No. 159 [2019] of the GACC), the imported bulk shipping gasoline is no longer subject to weight appraisal batch by batch as a bulk commodity. If an enterprise requires a weight certificate issued by Customs, it can submit an application via declaration platforms such as the China International Trade Single Window. Customs will perform weight verification and issue a weight certificate based on the enterprise's application.
04 Suggestions for Import Enterprises
1. Import enterprises should be familiar with my country's laws, regulations and standards on imported gasoline, and pay attention to relevant announcements and policy documents issued by the GACC in a timely manner.
2. Import enterprises should give priority to suppliers with good reputation and stable quality to ensure the quality of imported gasoline from the source.
3. Import enterprises shall declare the goods information to the customs truthfully, provide accurate documents and materials, and actively cooperate with the customs' inspection and supervision work.
The customs will resolutely shoulder the responsibility and mission of guarding the national border and promoting development, continue to strengthen the inspection and supervision of imported gasoline, strictly guard the national border defense line, and contribute to my country's energy security and environmental protection.
Note: Part of this article is excerpted from "[Standardized Declaration] An Article to Understand the Import of Gasoline" published by the WeChat public account "12360 Service Subscription Account".
Note: Some images in the article are from the Internet.
Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of Alayongguan. The Alayongguan version shall prevail.
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