The definition of a separate customs territory is elaborated, and the legal status of a separate cus

Individual customs territories do not enjoy sovereignty, but they have the same rights and obligations as States in the WTO under multilateral agreements.

In a separate customs area, the supervision of the entry and exit of goods, the collection and exemption of customs duties and other taxes are carried out in accordance with the customs laws and regulations promulgated by the region. There are currently four separate customs territories in the WTO, namely the European Union, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The separate customs territory has the right to conclude international agreements with other countries separately in the field of tariffs**, so some scholars believe that it has some international legal personality and has a certain right to conclude treaties.

International legal personality refers to the capacity to enjoy rights and obligations under international law and to have the capacity to act directly or indirectly at the international level. Legal personality in this context refers to qualifications in a general sense. Although the organs that engage in international acts on behalf of the State or other entities are ostensibly subjects engaged in international exchanges, they are clearly not internationally legally qualified.

Legal effect of separate customs territories

The tariffs and benefits of individual customs territories are often different from those of the home country. In the tariff** negotiations, not allowing it to negotiate and sign agreements alone is bound to harm the interests of the region. Thus, the GATT allows a separate customs territory to become an independent contracting party with the consent of the original representative of the customs territory.

In this way, the individual customs territories can conclude tariff agreements with other contracting parties on their own behalf.

There has been a change in the scope of application of international agreements relating to tariffs and ** concluded between its home country and other contracting parties. Prior to that, according to treaty law, tariffs and international agreements concluded by the home country should be applied to all territories, including individual customs territories, unless otherwise specified.

The customs administrative agency is divided into three levels: 1. The General Administration of Customs (including branch offices); 2. Directly under the customs; 3. Subordinate to the Customs (including the office directly under the Customs, and also under the Customs).

The General Administration of Customs is the supervisory authority. The customs directly under the General Administration of Customs is a regional supervision and management agency under the leadership of the General Administration of Customs. The subordinate customs is the specific business handling agency.

Among them, the "regional supervision and management agency" directly under the customs, and the "region" refers to the customs area. It can be understood that it is based on the jurisdiction of the customs directly under the customs. For example, we are talking about Zhengzhou Customs, and its current customs area covers the entire Henan Province.

The most important characteristic of the customs area is that it has no necessary correspondence with the local administrative divisions such as provinces and prefectures. If required, a customs area can be part of a province (e.g. Guangdong Province has 7 customs offices directly under it).

Of course, it is also possible to include several provinces in a customs area. In another case, due to the needs of nearby management, the jurisdiction of the two customs districts can be divided between the two provinces (or provinces) without following the administrative division.

Similarly, this is also the case with subordinate customs under the direct customs (the jurisdiction of the subordinate customs is called "on-site"). The customs site ** recorded by the state is 4, of which the first two are the customs area**. Such as:

Qingdao Customs Customs District** is 4200, and the subordinate customs sites under its jurisdiction are sorted within the range of 4200, such as and so on.

The first floor of the General Administration of Customs is called "customs border", and the concept of customs border is also different from China's land planning, such as: customs border can be larger than national border.

In a separate customs area, the supervision of the place of entry and exit of goods, the collection and exemption of customs duties and other tax places shall be implemented in accordance with the customs regulations of the place where the goods are promulgated. There are currently four separate customs territories in the WTO, namely the European Community, Hong Kong, China, Macau, and Taipei, China. Individual customs territories do not enjoy sovereignty, but they enjoy the same rights and assume the same obligations as countries in accordance with multilateral agreements within the WTO.