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Title: Regulations Governing the Bonding Operations in Science Parks CH
Category: National Science and Technology Council(國家科學及技術委員會)
Chapter II Control of Bonded Goods
Article 3
A park enterprise may import bonded goods from abroad only after it has completed its incorporation registration and has been approved by the Customs, per a public notice, as a park enterprise subject to the supervision and control of the Customs.
A park enterprise which imports bonded goods shall establish and maintain separate account books and records in respect of its bonding operations and shall assign full-time personnel to handle the bonding activities.
A park enterprise, which has not completed its incorporation registration but needs to import bonded goods from abroad, may file an application, attached thereto with the factory lease documents as approved by the Park Bureau, to the Park Bureau for their special approval of the importation of bonded goods as required.
In applying for special approval with the Park Bureau, the park enterprise shall pay to the Customs a guarantee deposit for the import duties leviable on the imported goods before applying for customs clearance for such goods, and may apply to the Customs for the refund of such import duty guarantee deposit after having completed its incorporation registration and after having been approved by the Customs, per a public notice, as a park enterprise subject to the supervision and control of the Customs.
Article 4
Once a park enterprise completes its incorporation registration and is approved by the Customs, per a public notice, for the supervision and control, it may submit a written application with required documentation to the Park Bureau for an approval of its qualification for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report of such operations.
In the case that a park enterprise qualified under the preceding Paragraph subsequently involved in merger or spin-off in accordance with Company Law, the surviving or the new park enterprise incorporated after such merger or spin-off may apply for succession to the qualification, which was previously acquired by the original park enterprise prior to such merger or spin-off, for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report .
In the case that a park enterprise qualified for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report has a branch factory located in another Park, the said branch factory may file, in accordance with the provisions set forth in Paragraph 1 of this Article, an application to the Park Bureau located within the Park wherein the said branch factory is located for an approval to its qualification for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report of such operations.
In the case that a park enterprise has a head office or a branch office outside the Park, which is qualified for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for a making consolidated monthly report, the said park enterprise may file an application to the Park Bureau for an approval to its qualification for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report of such operations.
Article 5
A park enterprise qualified for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making consolidated monthly report shall employ at least two persons (one of them shall be a managerial officer for bonding operations) to handle bonding operations. The Park Bureau shall be notified of the aforesaid employment whose approval shall be granted by the Customs in advance.
Persons assigned by a park enterprise to perform and handle bonding operations shall be the graduates from domestic or foreign senior high schools, vocational schools or other higher schools, or shall have passed the junior civil service examination or that of higher level (including grade C special examination), and shall meet any one of the following requirements:
1. Having performed the bonding operations for a period over two years;
2. Having attended a bonding operation training course conducted by the Park Bureau, the Customs or a private institution approved by the Customs, and received a completion certificate thereof.
Article 6
Where a park enterprise has been approved to perform self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and to make a consolidated monthly report, it may also, with respect of the cases deemed import or export cases, the cases involving processing outside the Park, the cases of processing for the customers outside the Park, and the cases relating to shipping the borrowed materials and/or the bonded goods, with a total value not exceeding the maximum one for exempting from payment of guarantee deposit as promulgated by the Customs, outside the Park for display, repair, inspection, or assembling and test, perform the self-check-and-inspection of such goods.
With respect to those deemed to be import/export cases in the preceding Paragraph, the park enterprise may, first record the release of bonded goods in accordance with transaction documents and packing list, and file the application to the Customs for making a consolidated monthly report together with the necessary documents for clearance of goods by the 15th day of the following month, provided that said park enterprise shall have obtained the required import/export documents before the release from the Park.
With regard to the bonded goods entered in and/or released from a park enterprise in the cases to be declared on a monthly basis, the date of entry/release of the last shipment of such bonded goods shall be deemed the date of import/export.
Article 7
A park enterprise shall, within one month from the date following the date of its manufacture of a new product and prior to its release of such products from the Park, prepare a "Bill of Materials" for the new product and submit the same to the Customs for recordation. In the event that the new product involved has been released from the Park before submission of the aforesaid documents to the Customs for recordation, the raw materials used for such new product shall not be deducted from the stock accounts.
The time limit mentioned in the preceding paragraph may be extended with the special approval of the customs due to product characteristics or special requirements for practical operations.
In case of any doubt that the aforesaid "Bill of Materials" contains untrue information, the Customs may conduct an audit on the said Bill, and request a description of the manufacturing process relating to the new product and other relevant documents that are conducive to performing the audits.
Article 8
A park enterprise shall keep account books for bonded goods, and shall submit the same to the Customs for examination and stamping. After Customs' examination and stamping, such books shall be used for recording, in the manner as required by the Customs, the running details of the quantities of merchandises entered into and released from the warehouses, the in-stock balance of merchandises, and the records, and shall be made available all the time for the examination and auditing of the Customs and the Park Bureau.
Where the non-bonded raw materials and supplies imported by a park enterprise are interchangeable with other bonded raw materials and supplies, they shall both be entered into the accounts of relevant raw materials and supplies for control, and the consumption records thereof shall, at the closing of each fiscal year, be separately indicated in the annual statements for consolidated computation.
The account books and statements relating to bonded goods of a park enterprise shall be preserved for a period of five years, and other relevant certificates and evidence shall be preserved for a period of three years after the close of annual inventory check taking process.
After close of the annual inventory check taking process and with approval of the Customs, a park enterprise may have the data and entries contained in the bonding operation-related account books and statements referred to in the preceding Paragraph recorded in sequence on micro-films, magnetic tapes, hard discs, compact discs or any other electronic storage media for preservation in accordance with the pre-established term of preservation, and then may destroy the original copies thereof. In case the Customs has a need to copy such statements, evidence, and other relevant documents in the course of conducting an investigation prescribed under the law, the said park enterprise shall have the obligation to provide the duplicate copies as required.
A park enterprise shall keep account books as required by Paragraph 1, Article 26 of the Act, for the examination and auditing of the Park Bureau and the Customs.
Article 9
The account books, statements and the release orders/certificates as required in these Regulations shall be printed in the uniform format as specified by the Customs. Where a park enterprise must make its own design of the format of such account books, statements, and other documents or must modify the format thereof originally specified by the Customs in order to satisfy its business needs, such new design or modification shall be reported to and approved by the Customs in advance.
Article 10
Every park enterprise shall self-conduct an inventory check once a year and jointly conduct the inventory check with a certified public accountant once every two years. However, park enterprises approved by the Customs as Authorized Economic Operators (AEO), or those that maintain complete and accurate account books of bonded goods and implements sound control systems for bonded goods may, prior to one month of the date for a joint inventory check with a certified public accountant or of the deadline date of annual inventory check, apply to the Customs for exemption from conducting the inventory check jointly with a certified public accountant.
The time period between any annual inventory check and the one before may not be less than ten months or exceed fourteen months. Special circumstances, if reported to the Customs in advance, may result in approval for extra early or extra late inventory checks. The Customs and the Park Bureau may conduct an inventory check whenever it is deemed necessary.
Where there is any discrepancy or omission found afterward in respect of an item not sampled in the course of the inventory check conducted in accordance with the preceding Paragraph, before such item is shipped to the tax zone, an application shall be filed, within one (1) month for the machinery and equipment, two (2) weeks for other products, after the inventory check, with the Customs for re-check. Application exceeding the said time frame shall be rejected.
Within three months after the inventory check, a park enterprise shall, based on its inventory check listing, prepare a Bonded Goods Inventory Chart and a Final Statement Report, and submit these to the Customs for examination and approval. In the same submission there shall also be two Raw Material Analysis Tables: one for refinished products, semi-finished products and finished products, the other for domestic sale and export products. Should a special circumstance arise, the park enterprise may apply for approval from the Customs to obtain a one-time extension of one month.
A park enterprise with research and development operations as its primary business activities and with only machinery and equipment regarded as bonded goods shall be exempted from conducting the joint inventory check with a certified public accountant.
The certified public accountant to be retained for conducting the inventory check jointly with a park enterprise shall be limited to a certified public accountant approved and registered as a tax agent in accordance with the Regulations Governing Certified Public Accountants to Act as Agent in Handling Income Tax Affairs.
Where a park enterprise qualified for performing the self-check-and-inspection of goods to be entered in and/or released from the Park and for making a consolidated monthly report of such operations is to retain certified public accountant to conduct and authenticate an annual inventory check, it may be exempted from conducting such annual inventory checks jointly with the Customs. An annual final accounting statement audited and certified by a certified public accountant may be exempted from the examination and approval of the Customs.
Article 11
A park enterprise may, at least one month prior to the scheduled inventory check date, apply to the Customs for conducting the inventory check on holidays. A park enterprise, which has a sound management system, maintains a good control of bonded goods, is able to make the inventory check list available before starting the inventory check procedure on the inventory check date, and satisfies any of the following requirements, may, no later than one month prior to the inventory check date, apply to the Customs for conducting the inventory check without interrupting the normal operations of its production lines:
1. Where the park enterprise takes the research and development operations as its primary business activities;
2. Where only the machinery and equipment of the park enterprise are regarded as bonded goods; or
3. Where the park enterprise is capable of providing, via a computer system, real time statistical statements of the bonded goods being used on the production lines while conducting the inventory check without interrupting its production operations.
A park enterprise which has been approved by the Customs to conduct the inventory check without interrupting its production operations shall provide relevant statements for the bonded goods being used on the production lines so as to enable the auditing Customs officers to make real-time checks on the quantities of relevant bonded goods; and such park enterprises may be exempted from preparing the inventory check cards for the bonded goods being used on the production lines.
In case a Customs officer taking part in a joint inventory check to be conducted discovers that the auditing cannot be performed without interrupting the production operations or there is any significant misconduct, he/she may order an interruption of the production operations in order to proceed with the inventory check or schedule another date to retake the inventory check by interrupting the production operations.
Article 12
The following provisions shall govern in the event of discrepancy between the quantity of the physical inventory check and the booked balance-in-stock for the same inventory check year of any bonded goods after the annual inventory check made by a park enterprise in accordance with the preceding Article:
1. Where the quantity of physical inventory check of an item is less than its quantity shown in the booked balance-in-stock, and such discrepancy does not exceed the inventory check discrepancy tolerance rate, payment of supplementary duty for such discrepancy shall be exempted; whereas, if the discrepancy exceeds the inventory check discrepancy tolerance rate, the park enterprise shall, within ten days after receipt of a notice for payment of supplementary duty issued by the Customs, submit the tax return for the supplementary payment of the import duties , commodity taxes and business taxes as required.
2. Where the quantity of physical inventory check of an item exceeds its booked balance-in-stock, such discrepancy shall be included the quantity of booked balance-in-stock. In addition, justification shall be given for such discrepancy. If such discrepancy is caused by the product's excessive use of raw materials, the "Bill of Materials" shall be amended accordingly for use in the following annual closing process.
Whereas a park enterprise possesses supplies or raw materials that are of the same type or are interchangeable, and whereas some of these are bonded the rest are not, both shall be included in the company’s annual inventory check.
The inventory check discrepancy tolerance rates applicable to raw materials of park enterprises shall be determined in accordance with the Table of Inventory check Discrepancy Tolerance Rates Classified by Categories of Raw Materials and Trades of Bonded Factories.
Article 13
A park enterprise, prior to its dissolution, or removal from the Park, or cancellation or annulment of its investment permit, shall initiate a closing inventory check in accordance with the following provisions:
1. The park enterprise shall contact the Park Bureau, the Customs and the appropriate tax authority to schedule a date for an inventory check, or shall have the inventory check date fixed by the Customs at its own discretion, and may take an inventory check jointly with the Park Bureau.
2. The Customs and the Park Bureau shall, depending on the actual situation, have the bonded goods sealed up for storage within the premises of the said park enterprise or any other place as designated by the Park Bureau.
3. The park enterprise shall make and submit a tax return for the supplementary payment of the duties or taxes levied on the bonded goods inventoried. In case the quantity of any bonded goods inventoried is less than the booked balance-in-stock, supplementary payment of the duties, taxes and dues leviable on the under-balanced portion of such bonded goods shall be effected in accordance with the provisions set out in Subparagraph 1, Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article.
4. No bonded goods of a park enterprise may be shipped to tax zone unless import duty levied thereon has been fully paid.
When a park enterprise is declared bankrupt, the bonded goods owned by it shall be disposed of in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Bankruptcy Act; if any bonded goods is necessary for production or export, such bonded goods may be released for use with the approval granted by the Customs against an appropriate amount of security deposit provided by the park enterprise, provided that the account offsetting for the bonded goods so released shall be effected against relevant export certificates within one year from the day following the customs release thereof, and failure to complete the account offsetting procedure within the said time frame shall cause the duties/taxes/dues to be offset against the foregoing security deposit provided by the park enterprise.
In the event that a park enterprise which is dissolved, or liquidated due to bankruptcy because of poor performance, or has moved out of the Park, or whose investment permit has been cancelled or annulled, is unable to conduct the closing inventory check for any reason whatsoever, supplementary import duties and taxes payable by it may be assessed directly by the Customs against the booked balance-in-stock of the bonded goods of said park enterprise.
Article 14
The bonded machinery and equipment imported by a park enterprise may be deleted from the account of bonded goods by the park enterprise on its own upon elapse of five full years after the date of import thereof and may no longer be subject to bonded good control; provide, however, that for those strategic and hi-tech goods, they shall still be disposed of in accordance with relevant provisions.