Individual Corruption

According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer 2010, a significant number of the surveyed households who had contact with the customs administration throughout 2009 report to have paid a bribe.

Business Corruption

Global Integrity 2009 reports that customs and excise laws are not always enforced uniformly or without discrimination. There are reports of companies paying bribes to custom officers in order to evade customs fees or pay less. Moreover, companies should be aware that the border administration, in relation to irregular payments in exports and imports, is not always transparent, as illustrated in the World Economic Forum Global Enabling Trade Report 2010.

Political Corruption

According to a 2009 news article by Sohu, the former head of the Xishuangbana Customs department was sentenced to 16 years in prison because of accepting more than CNY 700,000 in bribes from different companies, in return for allowing them to smuggle more than 1,000 tons of natural rubber into the country, causing a huge loss to the government. Read about the case details here (in Chinese).

Frequency

The World Bank & IFC: Doing Business 2012:
- For a standardised export shipment, 8 documents are needed, and the process takes an average of 21 days at an average cost of USD 500 per container.

- For a standardised import shipment, 5 documents are needed, and the process takes an average of 24 days at an average cost of USD 545 per container.

World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012: 
- Business executives give the efficiency of customs procedures (formalities regulating the entry and exit of merchandise) in China a score of 4.4 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'extremely inefficient' and 7 'extremely efficient').

World Economic Forum: The Global Enabling Trade Report 2010:
- Business executives give the transparency of border administration (pervasiveness of undocumented extra payments or bribes connected with imports and exports) in China a score of 4.3 on a 7-point scale (1 'non-transparent' and 7 'transparent'). 

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2010:
- 28.2% of households who had contact with the customs administration throughout 2009 report to have paid a bribe.