GACC registration under Decree 280: what a food or drink maker needs before selling into China

Since 1 June 2026, China’s Decree 280 has governed which overseas food plants may export to China. Each plant must be registered with China Customs. Plants in 17 food categories need their own government’s recommendation; the rest apply online, with no GACC fee. Most registrations now renew automatically, and a declaration without the plant’s number is not accepted.

A winery or a chocolate maker looking at China usually starts with distributors and prices. China Customs starts somewhere else: with the plant the product came from. Unless that plant holds a China registration number, the importer cannot declare the goods. The rules changed on 1 June 2026, and some of the English guidance still online describes the old ones.

Does my food or drink plant need GACC registration to sell into China?

Yes, if it makes, processes or stores food exported to China. Decree 280 (海关总署令第280号) applies to every overseas enterprise that produces, processes or stores food for export to China. Makers of food additives and food-related products, such as packaging, are outside it.^⁠[1] The General Administration of Customs of China (海关总署, GACC) registers the site, not the brand. A brand owner whose product is made by someone else needs that maker’s plant to be registered.

Decree 280 was promulgated on 14 October 2025 and took effect on 1 June 2026. On the same day it repealed Decree 248, which had applied since 1 January 2022 (Decree 280, Article 33).^⁠[1,2] A plant qualifies if its home authority approved it and supervises it, it runs an effective food-safety system, and it meets any inspection and quarantine requirements GACC has agreed with that authority (Article 7).^⁠[1]

Which foods need my own government’s recommendation?

Seventeen categories, set by GACC Announcement No. 27 of 2026. For these, your home authority inspects the plant and issues an inspection report and a recommendation letter, which go in with the application (Decree 280, Articles 8 and 9).^⁠[1,3] Every other food is registered by the plant itself.

	Decree 248 (to 31 May 2026)	Decree 280 (from 1 June 2026)
Number of categories	18	17
Unchanged	Meat and meat products, casings, aquatic products, dairy, bird’s nest, bee products, eggs, stuffed wheaten products, edible grains, milled grain products and malt, nuts and seeds, dried fruit, foods for special dietary uses, health foods	The same
Narrowed	Edible oils, fats and oilseeds; fresh and dehydrated vegetables and dried beans; condiments (调味料)	Edible oils and fats; dehydrated vegetables; seasoning powders (调料粉)
Removed	Unroasted coffee and cocoa beans	Not on the list

The products that left the list did not leave regulation. Decree 280 leaves primary edible agricultural products (初级食用农产品) to separate rules, and Announcement 27 points to GACC Announcement No. 219 of 2025 for that list.^⁠[1,3] Canada’s food inspection agency tells its exporters that fresh vegetables, oilseeds and dried beans now need registration with GACC’s animal and plant quarantine department instead.^⁠[4]

Your product	Route	Renewal
Wine, spirits, beer, soft drinks, chocolate, confectionery, roasted coffee	The plant registers itself online	Automatic every 5 years
Dairy, seafood, honey, eggs, edible oils, nuts, dried fruit, health foods	Home authority recommends	Automatic every 5 years
Meat and meat products, bird’s nest	Home authority recommends	Apply 3 to 12 months before expiry
Fresh vegetables, dried beans, oilseeds, unroasted coffee and cocoa beans	Outside Decree 280; the primary-products regime	Under that regime
A cold store holding meat or seafood	Must register as a storage enterprise	Not set out separately

How does a plant apply, and what does it cost?

Online, through GACC’s registration system at cifer.singlewindow.cn, known as CIFER. The plant applies itself or through an agent it appoints, and files three things: its registration details, proof of identity, and a declaration that it meets the rules (Article 9).^⁠[1,5] The materials may be in Chinese or English (Article 11).^⁠[1]

GACC charges no fee for registration.^⁠[3] It warns applicants to check they are on the genuine site, because fraudulent ones exist.^⁠[5] GACC may review a file on paper, by video or on site, itself or through a body it appoints (Article 12). Once satisfied, it grants a China registration number valid for five years (Articles 13 and 15).^⁠[1]

One route is not open to a single company. GACC may agree in writing with a home authority to register that country’s plants by list, after which the authority submits the list (Articles 17 and 18).^⁠[1] Whether your country has such an agreement is a question for your own authority.

What does code 519 mean for my Chinese importer?

It is the field on the Chinese customs declaration where your plant’s China registration number now has to go. Since 1 June 2026, it must be completed for food imported as cargo for people to eat or for food processing. The declaration must give the number of the plant in the country of origin under licence category code “519”, and “食用” (for eating) as the goods’ use. If either is missing, customs does not accept the declaration; false entries are investigated.^⁠[3]

The importer files the declaration, so the importer is the one who will ask you for the number. Give it before the first shipment leaves, not after it lands. Registered plants and their validity dates are published and searchable in the same system.^⁠[5]

Where does the registration number go on the packaging?

On the food packaging (食品包装), and it may be either the China registration number or the number your home authority gave the plant (Article 14).^⁠[1] Decree 248 said the inner and the outer packaging (Article 15).^⁠[2] Decree 280 dropped those words and has not said whether that narrows the rule. Until GACC does, marking both costs little.

Does GACC registration renew automatically now?

For most plants, yes. A registration renews itself for another five years when it expires (Article 21).^⁠[1] There are three exceptions (Article 21).^⁠[1] The first is food on GACC’s non-renewal list: meat and meat products, and bird’s nest products.^⁠[3] The others are a plant under an order to correct a failing, and a food GACC has suspended from that country.^⁠[1]

Plants that must renew apply between 3 and 12 months before expiry (Article 22).^⁠[1] Under Decree 248 the window was 3 to 6 months (Article 20).^⁠[2] A plant that misses its window has its registration cancelled (Article 23).^⁠[1]

What makes a registration stop working?

A move, certain changes to the plant’s details, or misuse of the number. Say a plant relocates, changes its legal representative or receives a new home-country number, and the change has a major effect on its food-safety system. GACC then refuses to record the change and asks for a new application. The China number lapses from the date of that notice (Article 20).^⁠[1] Renting, lending, transferring, reselling or misusing a registration number is a ground for revocation (Article 27).^⁠[1]

Goods already made or shipped are treated differently by route. For recommended plants, food made while the registration was valid can still be declared while it is within its shelf life. A self-registered plant must hold a valid registration on the day of the declaration. Goods shipped before a suspension, cancellation or revocation date are not affected.^⁠[3]

Is GACC registration enough to sell food in China?

No. It is the first gate. Imported pre-packaged food must carry a Chinese label giving its origin and the contact details of the agent in China. Food without one may not be imported (Food Safety Law, Article 97).^⁠[6] A consumer who buys food that fails a food-safety standard can claim ten times the price or three times the loss, and at least RMB 1,000. A defect in the label that neither affects safety nor misleads is excepted (Article 148).^⁠[6]

Selling direct to Chinese consumers through cross-border e-commerce is a different channel. Decree 280 says plants supplying cross-border e-commerce retail imports are handled “according to relevant provisions” (Article 30), and Announcement 27’s code-519 rule is written for goods imported as cargo.^⁠[1,3] How that channel works is in China’s bonded zones, for foreign brands. Whether you need a company of your own for either route is covered in whether you need a Chinese company to sell in China.

What do home authorities say about Decree 280?

Your own regulator decides the recommended route, so its guidance comes first. What we could open on 25 September 2026:

Country	What the authority says
United States	Meat, poultry, dairy, infant formula and seafood plants keep following FSIS and FDA procedures for China; USDA’s Beijing office has published a full English translation of Announcement 27
Canada	CFIA notice of 8 May 2026: ambient-temperature stores need no CIFER registration; cross-border e-commerce retail imports “may not be subject to all requirements”, so work it out with your importer
United Kingdom, European Union	We found no guidance updated for Decree 280. Ask Defra and APHA, or your member state’s food authority, before relying on older pages

Other countries were not covered. Registration is one step in a market-entry plan that also covers the channel, the importer and the brand; that plan is what our market entry advisory puts on paper. We are not a customs broker.

What has Decree 280 left open, as of 25 September 2026?

• The packaging rule. Whether “food packaging” in Article 14 now means only the retail unit. GACC has not said.^⁠[1]
• Plants registered under Decree 248. Neither Decree 280 nor Announcement 27 has a transitional article on them. Look your plant up in CIFER rather than assuming.
• Grains. CFIA says grains left the system with oilseeds; Announcement 27 still lists edible grains (食用谷物). Ask your authority which applies to your product.^⁠[3,4]
• Cross-border e-commerce. Article 30 defers to “relevant provisions”, which can change without a new decree.^⁠[1]
• Samples, trade-fair exhibits and gifts. Neither text mentions them. Ask a licensed customs broker before you pack any for a Chinese food fair.
• Processing time. Neither text sets one.
• The lists themselves. Announcement 27 says the catalogue, the non-renewal list and the cold-store scope are under dynamic management.^⁠[5]

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