Recently, Guangzhou presented a more convenient way on its customs declaration, utilizing a mini program supported by WeChat, a very popular social networking app in China. It is the first time China trying new measure like this in customs.
By using the mini program, passengers can achieve the declaration of five types – checked-in luggage, currency, pets, outbound goods, and inbound tax-related items. This new measure is currently available at the city’s seven ports including the most popular Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Guangzhou East Railway Station.
The reason why this new fantastic function is made into a mini program on WeChat is that it will be always ready-to-use, instead of real app which you have to wait until your phone finishes downloading it. The program includes warm tips, database of common items, automatic tax calculator, and photo-recognition system, which significantly reduce the time of declaration, greatly saving passengers’ time.
According to Feng Ruilin, an officer of Guangzhou Customs, the average time every passenger needed for declaration has been reduced from more than 10 minutes to about 5 minutes. Statistic shows that China Customs in Guangzhou has handled 11.77 million passengers’ entry and exit, including 722 pet declarations. With such a great saving on time and a large volume of passengers, this new measure is going to achieve more than it is expected.