The General Administration of Customs (GAC; Chinese: 海关总署; Pinyin: Hǎiguān Zǒngshǔ) is an administrative agency within the government of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for the collection of value added tax (VAT), customs duties, excise duties, and other indirect taxes such as air passenger duty, climate change levy, insurance premium tax, landfill tax and aggregates levy. It is also responsible for managing the import and export of goods and services into China. The current Minister of the Administration is Mou Xinsheng, who replaced Sheng Guangzu.
GAC guards the borders of China from smugglers and is therefore dedicated to keeping illegal products outside of Chinese borders. It also regulates what can leave China and is partially responsible for who can enter or leave the country.
Famous quotes containing the words general and/or customs:
“There are two great rules in life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that every one can in the end get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less of an exception to the general rule.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own.”
—Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)