Export to China and customs declarations

Question

Hi there, we export to an adhesive to China. However every shipment our customers ask for full chemical composition, obviously we dont want to give them those details, and the product is non hazardous/toxic etc. We therefore only issue an MSDS, however seems everytime we are asked for these details….the shipments do clear through chinese customs eventually, but i wondered if anyone else had experience of this matter, and how they handle ? thanks

Answer

Hi Gareth

Thank you for your question.

You may wish to speak with fellow community member Intertek who specialise in global commercial compliance including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS):

http://www.intertek.com/green/msds/
https://opentoexport.com/organisation/2575/

There are other global testing & complaince organisations available that may also be able to help:

http://www.sgsgroup.com.cn/en/office-directory.aspx
http://www.msds-europe.com/kateg-88-1-translation_safety_data_sheets_msds.html
http://www.sgs.com/en/Chemical.aspx

I hope this helps.

Kind regards
Gemma

Answer

thanks for the advice Gemma, I am familiar with Intertek and SGS. Our issue is not so much in producing MSDS, we can do that already without issue. My issue is more with the actual import/customs end when our goods reach China. Our customers demand that we give them a full chemical breakdown of the product, which we really don’t want to give it (its our protected formula)…..I wondered how other exporters to China might get around that ??
thanks so much

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