汇函[1998]27号
(Promulgated by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on 14 August 1998 and revised on 6 September 1999.)
颁布日期：19980814 　实施日期：19980901 　颁布单位：国家外汇管理局

In order to strengthen the administration of foreign exchange, and to prevent evasion of foreign exchange and illegal procurement of foreign exchange, in accordance with the Administration of the Settlement, Sale and Payment of Foreign Exchange Provisions and other regulations, we hereby notify you of the following issues related to the administration of sale and payment of foreign exchange. Please abide by and implement them:

1. When dealing with sale and payment of foreign exchange for payments on arrival of goods where the sum involved is the equivalent of over US$100,000, designated foreign exchange banks must for each payment submit the customs declaration form for the imported goods (hereafter referred to as the customs declaration) to Customs for checking whether it is true or false. They may only undertake sale and payment of foreign exchange after replied by the Customs that it is true. Domestic organizations may not be appointed to carry out checking of customs declarations themselves.

2. Designated foreign exchange banks should, on the basis of discussion with the People's Bank of China, formulate their own or internal unified risk supervision systems. They shall decide the degree of credit authorization of each work unit in accordance with their own risk supervision systems, and bring all loan business by that work unit such as the opening of letters of credit with the bank and dealing with import and export bills of exchange, discounts, letters of guarantee and packing credits within unified credit authorization controls.

3. When dealing with sale and payment of foreign exchange, designated foreign exchange banks should verify whether the buyer in the import contract provided by the customer, the importing work unit in the customs declaration, the consignee in the bill of lading and the party applying for purchase and payment of foreign exchange are one and the same party. If the party stated in any one of the certificates or vouchers listed above is not the same as the party applying for purchase and payment of foreign exchange, the bank may not engage in purchase and sale of foreign exchange for that party.

4. Multiple purchases and payments of foreign exchange based upon one customs declaration may only be dealt with by a single designated foreign exchange bank. At the first time the designated foreign exchange bank deals with sale and payment of foreign exchange on the basis of a particular customs declaration, it should retain the original customs declaration on file, copy it and return a copy to the organization within China. For subsequent purchases and payments of foreign exchange, the organization within China should submit the copy of the customs declaration to the same designated foreign exchange bank. After dealing with a sale and payment of foreign exchange for the customer, the designated foreign exchange bank should note on the original and the copy of the customs declaration the amount of foreign exchange sold and paid and the date of sale and payment, and affix its seal.

5. Except in the case of customs declarations signed and issued by Customs of the Shanghai Waigaoqiao bonded zone, the Tianjin Tanggu bonded zone, the Dalian bonded zone, the Qingdao Huangdao bonded zone, the Ningbo bonded zone, the Zhangjia port bonded zone, the Fuzhou Mawei bonded zone, the Xiamen Xiangyu bonded zone, the Guangzhou bonded zone, the Shantou bonded zone, the Zhuhai bonded zone, the Shenzhen Shatoujiao bonded zone, the Shenzhen Putian bonded zone, the Zhenzhen Futian bonded zone, the Haikou bonded zone and the Hainan Yangpu development zone, designated foreign exchange banks may not handle sale and payment of foreign exchange business for organizations within China when the customs declaration states the place of shipment as "China" or "such-and-such a place, China" and the destination of the goods as "such-and-such a place, China".

6. Designated foreign exchange banks may not engage in sale and payment of foreign exchange for organizations within China when the customs declaration states in the "form of trade" column "supplied materials for processing", "supplied parts for assembling" or "supplied samples for processing".

7. Designated foreign exchange banks may not engage in sale and payment of foreign exchange for organizations within China using compensation in kind for compensation trade. If compensation is in foreign exchange, the organization within China should make an application to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange or its branches (hereafter referred to as the foreign exchange authorities) accompanied by the compensation trade contract, the "Foreign Debt Registration Certificate", the notice of payment from the organization outside China and the customs declaration etc, and then submit the principal repayment and interest payment approval certificate from the foreign exchange authorities to the designated foreign exchange bank to implement purchase and payment of foreign exchange.

Designated foreign exchange banks should implement sale and payment of foreign exchange for compensation trade by organizations within China on the basis of the examination and approval document issued by the foreign exchange authorities. Designated foreign exchange banks may not directly implement sale and payment of foreign exchange for organizations within China when the "form of trade" column in the customs declaration states "compensation trade".

8. Organizations within China making purchase and payment of foreign exchange for foreign investment where the "form of trade" column in the customs declaration states "equipment used in equity or cooperative joint ventures" should make an application to the foreign exchange authorities accompanied by the document from economic and trade departments approving cash investment or increased investment and the certificate from Customs approving tax exemption etc, and then submit the foreign exchange sale notification approved and issued by the foreign exchange authorities to the designated foreign exchange bank to implement purchase and payment of foreign exchange. The designated foreign exchange bank shall implement the sale or payment of foreign exchange in accordance with the foreign exchange sale notification from the foreign exchange authorities.

9. Organizations within China making purchase and payment of foreign exchange for re-export trade on the basis of advance payments before delivery should submit the import and export contract, formal invoice and letter of credit from the buyer, or the foreign bank's letter of payment guarantee which has a code number verified by the bank, or other collection guarantees recognized by the foreign exchange authorities plus the import letter of credit, to the foreign exchange authorities for the application of an "Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Form". The organizations then should submit the Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Form registered at and issued by the foreign exchange authorities to the designated foreign exchange bank. The designated foreign exchange bank shall implement sale and payment of foreign exchange for the organization in accordance with the Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Form, the above-mentioned proof and other valid certificates and commercial vouchers stipulated by the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement, Sale and Payment Provisions. The foreign exchange authorities shall not re-examine and verify this item of business or re-issue a Foreign Exchange Sale Notification, and the sale and payment of foreign exchange vouchers from the designated foreign exchange bank shall not include another Foreign Exchange Sale Notification.

10. Once designated foreign exchange banks have dealt with sale and payment of foreign exchange on behalf of customers in accordance with the Administration of Foreign Exchange Settlement, Sale and Payment Provisions, they should stamp "foreign exchange provided" on the valid certification such as the customs declaration. Designated foreign exchange banks may not carry out sale and payment of foreign exchange business for customers holding certificates such as customs declarations stamped "foreign exchange provided".

11. If the date of purchase and payment of foreign exchange exceeds 90 days from the date of issue of the customs declaration in the case of import trade involving settlement by collection or payment on arrival of goods, organizations within China should within 15 days of the goods being imported submit the import contract, customs declaration form for the imported goods (special statement of verification and cancellation of foreign exchange paid for imports) and invoice to the foreign exchange authorities for the foreign debt registration procedure. Once the foreign exchange authorities have checked and verified the certificates and commercial vouchers provided by the organizations within China they should issue them with foreign debt registration certificates such as the Foreign Debt Registration Certificate, and state "foreign debt registration completed" on the customs declaration. When the organizations within China need to purchase foreign exchange for payments or to make payments abroad from their foreign exchange accounts, they should make an application to the foreign exchange authorities accompanied by the Foreign Debt Registration Certificate, the import contract and the customs declaration form for the imported goods, and then submit the verification and approval certificate issued by the foreign exchange authorities to designated foreign exchange banks.

When implementing sale and payment of foreign exchange for organizations within China in accordance with the verification and approval certificates from foreign exchange authorities, designated foreign exchange banks may not directly implement sale and payment of foreign exchange for such organizations holding customs declarations involving a foreign exchange payment date in excess of 90 days from the date of issue of the customs declarations, or marked as "foreign debt registration completed".

12. Organizations within China using loans from foreign governments or international financial organizations, or using international commercial loans or funds raised through debt issue, or when imports are made on behalf of work units within China which have won contracts in international tenders, must submit the customs declarations and go through the procedure for verification and cancellation of foreign exchange paid for imports regardless of whether funds are paid from China or allocated directly from accounts abroad, and regardless of whether they are importing for themselves or on behalf of others.

13. Organizations within China using foreign exchange for import for prepayment of goods, where the amount of such prepayment does not exceed 15 per cent of the total sum of the contract, or where it does exceed 15 per cent but not exceed the equivalent of US$100,000, should submit the foreign bank's letter of guarantee for prepayment of goods which has been verified and escorted confidentially by the bank, together with the import contract, the statement of verification and cancellation of foreign exchange paid for imports, and the formal invoice directly to the designated foreign exchange bank to implement purchase and payment of foreign exchange. When an organization within China is using foreign exchange for import for prepayment of goods where the amount of such prepayment does exceed 15 per cent of the total sum of the contract and also exceeds the equivalent of US$100,000, it should submit the foreign bank's letter of guarantee for prepayment of which has been verified and escorted confidentially by the bank, together with the explanation stamped by the legal person, the import contract and the formal invoice to the foreign exchange authorities to obtain an "Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Form", and shall be checked and verified by foreign exchange authorities. The designated foreign exchange bank shall implement sale and payment of foreign exchange in accordance with the Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Form registered and issued by the foreign exchange authorities plus the above-mentioned valid certificates and commercial vouchers. Once designated foreign exchange banks have dealt with sale and payment of foreign exchange for prepayment of goods involving less than 15 per cent of the total sum of the contract but in excess of the equivalent of US$300,000, they should complete a monthly "Major Prepayment of Goods and Premiums Recordal Registration Form" to be put on file with the foreign exchange authorities within ten working days of the beginning of every month, not less than 50 per cent of which shall be examined by the foreign exchange authorities. The foreign exchange authorities shall not re-examine and verify this item of business or re-issue a Foreign Exchange Sale Notification, and the sale and payment of foreign exchange vouchers from the designated foreign exchange bank shall not include another Foreign Exchange Sale Notification.

14. Once the foreign exchange authorities have examined the statement of verification and cancellation and the attached vouchers and certificates reported and submitted by the organization within China in accordance with Article 14 of the Supervision and Administration of Verification and Cancellation of Foreign Exchange Paid for Trade Imports Tentative Procedures, they should stamp "reported and examined" on the statement of verification and cancellation and the attached customs declaration and retain the top copy of the statement and the attached vouchers and certificates. The attached vouchers and certificates (including the customs declaration) may not be returned to the organization within China, and all the customs declarations submitted must be verified a second time by the Customs.

15. The foreign exchange authorities should keep appropriately the retained vouchers and certificates, and retain them for two years for inspection. Designated foreign exchange banks may not implement sale and payment of foreign exchange for organizations within China holding customs declarations stamped "reported and examined".

The foreign exchange authorities should administer strictly the signing and issue of Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Forms and the implementing of verification and cancellation of foreign exchange paid for imports, and establish a system of internal review. Sales and payments of foreign exchange for organizations within China under the Import Foreign Exchange Payment Recordal Forms should be verified and cancelled item by item by the foreign exchange authorities in accordance with the Supervision and Administration of Verification and Cancellation of Foreign Exchange Paid for Trade Imports Tentative Procedures.

This Circular shall be effective as of 1 September 1998. All branches are asked to transmit it to those financial institutions (including foreign investment financial institutions) and importing work units under their authority, and all Chinese designated foreign exchange banks to transmit it to the branches under their authority. If problems arise during implementation please report these to the Administration in a timely fashion.