Customs takes tough line of local pressure

The General Administration of Customs will take a tough line on local governments or companies' unreasonable requests to seize or withhold legally imported materials for epidemic prevention and control, it said in a notice released on Thursday.

In a recent inspection of 42 local customs offices, the administration found that several local governments had asked the customs offices to seize or withhold legally imported epidemic prevention supplies.

The customs offices had firmly resisted such unreasonable requests, it said.

Customs statistics show that 957 million items related to epidemic prevention worth 3.07 billion yuan ($439 million) were examined and released by customs offices nationwide from Jan 24 to Feb 12.