On the basis of consolidating the achievements of the reform of the import registration system, the General Administration of Customs has revised the current relevant regulations based on the principles of international governance, risk management, full process control, and rigorous pragmatism. The new regulations mainly present four characteristics, namely openness and transparency, emphasis on safety, greater convenience, and joint consultation and governance. The registration and management system for overseas production enterprises of imported food is an important means to implement the requirements of the Food Safety Law, strengthen the supervision and risk management of imported food sources. Recently, the General Administration of Customs held a press conference to interpret the newly revised "Regulations on the Registration and Management of Overseas Food Production Enterprises Imported by the People's Republic of China Customs" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") and its supporting implementation announcement. The Regulation aims to further enhance the level of imported food safety supervision and facilitate the trade of imported food. Relevant policy measures will be officially implemented from June 1, 2026. Li Jinsong, Director of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, stated that the implementation of the "Regulations" and related supporting policies can continue to ensure smooth import food trade, inject new momentum, add new vitality, and provide new models for global food safety governance. According to reports, the current relevant regulations have been officially implemented since January 1, 2022, to improve the full chain regulatory responsibility system. Over the past four years, more than 96000 food enterprises from 178 countries (regions) have registered in China. With the continuous increase of compliant suppliers, the diversification level of food categories exported to China has been continuously improved, from roasted coffee beans in South Africa to dried nuts in Uzbekistan, from salmon in Norway to frozen fruits in New Zealand. At the same time, it has driven the steady growth of China's total import food trade, from 1.25 trillion yuan in 2021 to 13200 billion yuan in 2025. With the continuous improvement of China's level of opening up to the outside world, the number of registration applications for overseas food production enterprises has grown rapidly. On the basis of consolidating the achievements of the reform of the import registration system, the General Administration of Customs has revised the current relevant regulations based on the principles of international governance, risk management, full process control, and rigorous pragmatism. The newly revised "Regulations" mainly present four characteristics, namely openness and transparency, outstanding safety, greater convenience, and joint consultation and governance. The Regulations highlight the political stance of fully implementing the "four strictest" principles of food safety (the strictest standards, strictest supervision, strictest punishment, and strictest accountability), strengthening source management, and overseeing the entire process; Highlighting the modernization level of import registration management and incorporating the concept of "prevention first, risk management" from the Food Safety Law throughout the entire registration management process; More prominent efforts will be made to continuously strengthen the responsibilities of overseas regulatory authorities and enterprises for imported food, and further improve the regulatory responsibility system for the entire chain of imported food safety that is clear in responsibilities, complete in chain, and interconnected. It is reported that the customs implements full chain supervision of imported food from the source to the country's borders through measures such as system assessment, port inspection, and follow-up supervision, continuously preventing product risks. Luo Jun, Deputy Director of the Import and Export Food Safety Bureau of the General Administration of Customs, introduced that enterprise registration is the most advanced and important management tool. For food categories with relatively fixed process standards and production capacity, and no major food safety incidents, considering trade facilitation, the customs allows their enterprises to automatically renew; For products with relatively high risks, customs need to cooperate with the exporting country's official authorities to conduct necessary reviews during the enterprise registration process to further tighten the "safety valve". According to the introduction, the "Regulations" have launched four innovative functions in terms of convenience: the first risk-based registration classification management, which implements a risk grading directory management system to achieve more precise management requirements such as registration methods and evaluation procedures; Initiate automatic renewal of enterprise validity period, optimize enterprise validity period management for greater efficiency; Firstly, promote enterprise list based registration, based on mutual recognition of food safety systems, and implement batch enterprise registration for greater convenience; First use of intelligent assistance for enterprise registration approval, relying on the latest technologies such as "artificial intelligence+" to promote automatic evaluation and make enterprise registration faster. When it comes to the convenience that the implementation of the "Regulations" will provide to applying enterprises, Li Jinsong said that the "Regulations" fully consider the connection with the existing registration system. Currently, the import food trade of 96000 registered food enterprises worldwide is not affected. Through the implementation of the "Regulations", greater convenience will be obtained. One is to achieve automatic renewal of registration for 95% of registered enterprises. According to the Regulations and Implementation Announcement, only food production enterprises other than meat and meat products and bird's nest and bird's nest products are allowed to automatically renew their expiration dates, optimizing the management of expiration dates for more efficient enterprises. For the above two types of enterprises that cannot be automatically renewed, the "Regulations" will relax the deadline for renewal applications from 3 to 6 months before expiration to 3 to 12 months, leaving more ample time for enterprises to apply for renewal registration. Secondly, it is more convenient to make changes to existing enterprises. For situations where registered enterprises need to make changes, a more flexible and pragmatic approach has been adopted, mainly assessing whether the relevant changes have a significant impact on food safety and hygiene management and protection systems, and deciding whether to make changes to ensure the normal operation of food trade to the greatest extent possible. For newly registered enterprises, the "Regulations" introduce the following four conveniences: firstly, the application is more convenient, and the registration application method has been optimized from the original "official recommendation registration" and "enterprise self application registration" to both being submitted by the enterprise. For foods included in the imported food catalog that require official recommendation registration, the enterprise can directly submit the application to the Chinese side after obtaining the inspection report and recommendation letter issued by the competent authority; Secondly, the application materials have been simplified, and the identification documents for enterprises are no longer limited to business licenses. Official certificates can also be submitted, and registration information such as "production type and production capacity" can be adjusted to be provided when necessary; Thirdly, information feedback is faster, and the progress of enterprise registration is directly notified to the enterprise through the system and reported to the overseas regulatory authorities; The fourth is to add a "list registration" fast track, which allows enterprises in countries and regions with good cooperation foundations and bilateral agreements on import registration to enjoy the registration fast track brought by "list registration". We believe that after the implementation of the Regulations, the import registration process for legal and compliant food enterprises will be more efficient and convenient. ”Li Jinsong said. During the transition period of the promulgation of the Provisions on Strengthening the Co governance of Global Food Safety, the General Administration of Customs has maintained close communication with relevant departments of major trading partners. Through the "the Belt and Road" Customs Food Safety Cooperation Conference, the China Nordic Countries Customs Inspection and Quarantine Dialogue, the China ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and other multilateral and bilateral channels, more than 900 people from food safety authorities and enterprise representatives from 57 countries (regions) have been given special presentations face-to-face. In addition, the General Administration of Customs has established a special team to collect and respond to opinions and inquiries from all parties through the China National Notification and Consultation Center under the Technical Barriers to Trade Agreement and the Agreement on the Implementation of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures. We will gradually release supporting implementation announcements and other documents, optimize and upgrade the registration management system for overseas production enterprises of imported food, enable all stakeholders to smoothly implement the "Regulations", and jointly promote the healthy development of food trade in China. International co governance "is one of the principles of import registration. In particular, the addition of the "list registration" model in Articles 17 and 18 of the Regulations is an important institutional innovation promoted by the Chinese Customs under the principle of "international co governance". It is mainly applicable to countries (regions) that have signed food safety cooperation documents with China and have a good cooperation foundation. The purpose is to strengthen global food safety co governance, optimize the registration and review process, facilitate enterprise registration applications, and improve trade facilitation. Li Jinsong stated that countries (regions) that meet the conditions listed in Article 17 may agree with the General Administration of Customs on specific "list registration" product categories, recommendation methods, subsequent regulatory requirements, problem communication mechanisms, and exit mechanisms, and develop more personalized registration management requirements. After both parties reach an agreement and sign the corresponding cooperation documents, the competent authority of the country (region) may provide the General Administration of Customs with a list of eligible enterprises and other materials in accordance with the agreement. The General Administration of Customs shall implement batch registration and management of the enterprises on the list in accordance with the agreement. The original enterprise can be registered and managed in batches after signing the agreement and correcting it one by one. At the same time, the registration on the list does not affect the enterprise's ability to register through the original official recommendation or self application channels. The competent authorities of the countries (regions) participating in the 'list registration' shall fulfill their regulatory responsibilities as agreed, ensure that the enterprises on the list meet the registration management requirements, and cooperate with the General Administration of Customs to conduct spot checks and evaluations, and jointly improve the governance efficiency of enterprise registration. ”Li Jinsong said. (New Society)