Export document
GACC registration
Overseas facilities producing, processing or storing food for export to China have to be registered with China's customs administration. The requirement took effect at the start of 2022, and a producer without registration cannot ship food to China whatever else is in order.
The essentials.
- The instrument
- Decree 248, in force from 1 January 2022, covering overseas production, processing and storage facilities.1
- How registration happens
- Depending on the product category, through the competent authority of the exporting country or by direct application.1
- How long it lasts
- Five years, after which it has to be renewed.1
Who asks for it.
Only these markets require it. Shipping the same goods anywhere else, the question does not arise.
What it does not cover.
It attaches to the facility
Registration belongs to the site, not to the trading company selling the goods. An exporter with a Chinese customer and an unregistered producer behind them has nothing to ship with.
It is not a quality approval
Registration says the facility is permitted to export to China. Product specification, testing and labelling are separate questions and are settled in the contract.
Questions buyers ask.
How do I check whether a producer is registered?
Ask for the registration number and check it against the customs administration's published list. This belongs at the qualifying stage, because a facility that is not registered cannot be added to your order timeline.
Does it apply to non-food products?
The decree addresses food. Furniture, essential oils sold as chemical ingredients and other non-food goods sit outside it and face their own Chinese requirements instead.
Where this comes up.
Indonesian coffee
Arabica and robusta origins, wet-hulling, how the national standard grades a lot, packing, and the documents a buyer needs including EUDR.
Indonesian cocoa beans
Why fermentation decides the price, what the national grade does not cover, and the documents an Indonesian cocoa shipment needs including EUDR.
Indonesian dried seaweed
Indonesia farms the seaweed the carrageenan industry runs on. Which species does what, and why moisture and impurities decide the price.
Worth reading.
Sources
- 1China's facility registration requirements, Decree 248. US Food and Drug Administration. Checked 3 August 2026.
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