Photo: Screenshot from a report by the Xinhua News Agency

A sub-office under Guangzhou Customs District seized 1.6 tons of zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) intermingled with other goods for export through cross-border e-commerce channels, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. 

During an inspection of a batch of cross-border e-commerce export parcels declared as "bubble bags and weatherproof fabric," customs officers at Qingyuan sub-office under Guangzhou Customs District discovered that some cartons inside the container bore outer packaging printed with words reading "Alkaline Water zongzi" and "pork zongzi". Upon opening the cartons for further inspection, the officers found a large number of zongzi that had not been declared to customs—totaling 4,800 pieces, weighing 1.6 tons.

Under the Customs Law and related regulations, all food products intended for export are designated as statutory inspection commodities. Enterprises shall truthfully apply for inspection and strictly fulfill their declaration obligations when exporting commodities subject to statutory inspection.  Any failure to declare, or any false declaration of such goods shall be deemed a violation of customs regulations and will subject the violator to legal liability.

Photo: Screenshot from a report by the Xinhua News Agency

Also, customs officers at Shekou Customs conducted an inspection on a batch of goods declared for export. During the examination, they discovered that the declared items—"decorative ornaments"—bore the "FIFA" trademark and were suspected of being infringing goods. The rights holder subsequently confirmed that the batch of ornaments, totaling 96 pieces, was suspected of infringing the exclusive right to use the "FIFA" trademark.

Under China's Customs Law and relevant regulations, customs authorities are legally mandated to safeguard intellectual property rights (IPRs) in connection with imports and exports. Any goods that are illegally traded and found to infringe upon IPRs protected under Chinese laws and administrative regulations will be subject to seizure and fines imposed by customs. Cases involving criminal violations will be referred to public security agencies for criminal prosecution in accordance with the law.

Global Times