How to Calculate the Duty Paid Import Price of Multimodal Transport Goods

The concept of international multimodal transport

The United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods defines international multimodal transport as the transportation of goods by the multimodal transport operator from a designated delivery point within the territory of one country to a designated delivery point within the territory of another country using at least two different modes of transportation, in accordance with the international multimodal transport contract. The Maritime Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that there must be one method for domestic multimodal transportation, which is sea freight. For international multimodal transport goods, the carrier issues a full process transport document, also known as a multimodal bill of lading.

With the continuous development of China's economy, more and more goods are entering inland cities through multimodal transportation. Inland transportation has become an important component of multimodal transportation, and inland freight also exists as a part of the entire freight rate. In reality, there are doubts about whether and how to deduct the nland freight for multimodal transportation.

Is there a correlation between inland freight and import dutiable price

According to Article 3 of the "Guidelines for the Valuation of Import Maritime Transport and Related Costs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), the inclusion of transportation and related costs in the dutiable price of imported goods should simultaneously meet the following three conditions: firstly, it is related to transportation; Secondly, it should be calculated until the goods arrive at the place of entry within the territory of the People's Republic of China before unloading; The third is what the buyer actually pays and should pay.

Based on the nature of the inland freight for import customs transfer, the above conditions are compared one by one: firstly, the inland freight is indeed related to transportation, and the conditions are met; Secondly, the conditions are not met before the loading and unloading at the domestic import location - taking the sea port as an example, when the main transportation vehicle enters the country (the boundary point before loading and unloading), that is, the branch transportation from the sea port to the inland point is already after loading and unloading; The third is whether the buyer actually pays or should pay, which needs to be determined based on specific trade terms.

According to Article 5 of the "Guidelines", there are two conditions for determining the arrival of imported goods at the place of entry within the territory of the People's Republic of China before unloading: one is the place of entry within the territory of the People's Republic of China, which refers to the place where the imported goods first leave the international shipping vehicle carrying the imported goods after entering the customs territory of China; The other is before unloading, which refers to the start of the unloading behavior of the goods.

The key point of determining condition one is that the international shipping vehicle and imported goods leave the transportation vehicle for the first time, which can determine that the inland port for transporting goods in the inland section does not meet the definition of "input location"; The term "pre unloading" mentioned in Condition 2 of the determination refers to the unloading of goods transported in the inland section before the unloading of goods (international means of transportation), which does not meet the definition.

In summary, according to Article 3 and Article 5 of the Guidelines, inland freight is not included in the dutiable price.

How to deduct inland freight from imported dutiable prices

In reality, the main entities that can provide inland freight information include enterprises, third parties, and carriers, as follows:

Firstly, due to trade term restrictions, it is difficult for enterprises to provide inland freight. Imports are usually based on CIP or CIF. Taking CIP Changsha as an example, the exporter (i.e. overseas seller) arranges transportation and pays the entire transportation cost to Changsha. carrier