Importing from China to Japan: JETRO Rules and Compliance

Importing from China to Japan follows a clear process: declare the goods to Japan Customs, pay customs duty plus a 10% consumption tax, and clear the product-compliance checks that apply to your category. When the paperwork is complete, clearance is fast — customs sources describe sea cargo releasing within two to three days of arrival and air cargo within about a day.

The part that trips up first-time importers is rarely the duty rate. Japan's tariffs are among the lowest in the world, and the RCEP agreement gives many Chinese-origin goods an even lower rate. What stops shipments is compliance: PSE marks for anything electrical, Food Sanitation Act notifications for food and food-contact goods, and the ACP (Attorney for Customs Procedures) requirement if you import without a Japanese company, enforced since October 2023. CN Ally's product sourcing service helps buyers vet Chinese suppliers against these requirements before anything ships.

How the Japanese import process actually works

Anyone importing goods must declare them to the Director-General of Customs and obtain an import permit. The formalities start with lodging the import declaration and end with the permit being issued after customs examination and payment of duty and consumption tax.

In practice, the declaration is made after the goods enter a bonded area, and more than 90% of Japanese import procedures run through NACCS (the Nippon Automated Cargo Clearance System). Most importers never file it themselves — a licensed broker files as a proxy.

The standard document set is straightforward: the import declaration form (Form C-5020), a commercial invoice, the bill of lading or air waybill, a packing list, and a certificate of origin where you're claiming a preferential tariff rate. If your goods need approvals from other ministries, those get sorted before the declaration, because customs won't release cargo that fails another agency's inspection.

One habit worth building early: describe the goods precisely on the invoice. Japanese customs puts real weight on accurate HS classification and declared values, and vague descriptions invite an examination — which means storage charges.

What you'll actually pay: duties and the consumption tax

The total cost of importing into Japan has two layers: customs duty and consumption tax.

Customs duty depends on the HS code. Japan's simple average applied MFN tariff is around 4.3% — one of the lowest in the world — but individual rates vary from zero on many industrial goods to over 20% on protected agricultural products. Classify under the Harmonized System, look up the rate in Japan's tariff schedule, and multiply by the customs value.

Then comes the consumption tax: 10% on most imported goods (8% national plus 2% local), calculated on the customs value plus the duty paid. Registered businesses can generally recover it as input tax when they file.

The cost components of a typical sea shipment look like this:

Cost item · Basis · Notes

• Customs duty: HS code × customs value · Often low for China-made consumer goods; check the RCEP rate
• Consumption tax: 10% of (customs value + duty) · Recoverable for registered businesses
• Customs broker fee: Per shipment · Flat; varies by broker and shipment complexity
• Sea freight: Per container or CBM · Shanghai–Tokyo is one of the shortest Asia lanes
• Insurance: ~0.5–1% of CIF value · Common range for all-risk cover

Transit times on the China–Japan lane are short by international standards. Forwarders describe Shanghai–Tokyo sea legs in days rather than weeks, with door-to-door typically one to two weeks once consolidation and customs are included. Treat any specific number a forwarder gives you as a quote for current conditions, not a permanent fact.

RCEP can lower your duty — but you need the certificate

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership took effect on January 1, 2022, and it was the first tariff-concession agreement ever signed between China and Japan. Despite being each other's largest trading partners, the two countries had no bilateral trade deal before RCEP. The agreement eliminates tariffs on roughly 91–92% of goods traded among member countries over time.

For a China-to-Japan importer, this means the duty rate on your HS code may be lower than the MFN rate. The mechanism is a certificate of origin: RCEP's practical advantage is a common rules-of-origin framework, so members generally need only one certificate of origin for trade within the bloc. Whether it helps depends on your product — some lines phase down over years, others were already near zero. Ask your broker to compare the MFN and RCEP rates for your HS code, and if RCEP wins, arrange the certificate with your supplier before the goods ship.

The ACP rule: non-resident importers since October 2023

This is the rule that catches Amazon Japan sellers and foreign brands off guard. In principle, Japan Customs does not let foreign entities act as the importer of record. If you don't have a Japanese company or office, you historically relied on a freight forwarder, customs broker, or third party to stand in as the nominal importer.

Since October 1, 2023, Japan Customs has required non-resident importers to appoint an Attorney for Customs Procedures (ACP) — a Japanese resident entity that handles customs procedures on your behalf under Article 95 of the Customs Law. Under the new framework, the non-resident entity becomes the importer of record itself by appointing an ACP, which registers with Japan Customs as its agent. Amazon's own seller guidance now reflects this: if you have no Japanese entity to act as importer of record for FBA inventory, appointing an ACP is mandatory.

Getting this wrong has a concrete cost beyond rejected declarations. Without an ACP, import procedures typically run under a third party's name, and claiming a refund of import consumption tax becomes harder — which directly affects your margins. If you sell into Japan from abroad without a local entity, budget for ACP services the way you'd budget for freight.

Electronics need PSE marks under the DENAN Law

Every electrical product sold in Japan falls under the Electrical Appliance and Material Safety Law (DENAN), administered by METI, and must carry a PSE mark before sale. There are two kinds (TÜV SÜD's Japan page has the full breakdown):

Diamond PSE · Circle PSE

• Applies to: Specified electrical appliances (Category A) · Non-specified electrical appliances (Category B)
• Products covered: 116 item types, e.g. cables, thermal fuses, battery chargers, DC power supplies · 340 item types, e.g. electric irons, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, microwaves, TVs
• How it works: Third-party certification by a METI-registered body (RCAB), including factory inspection · Self-declaration; testing against JIS or IEC standards with Japanese deviations
• Certificate validity: 3, 5, or 7 years depending on product type · 3 years

Three points matter for China sourcing. First, the mark has to be on the product before sale; confirming compliance after the container lands is too late. Second, testing is against Japanese standards (JIS) — existing CE or UL certificates provide no direct mutual recognition pathway. Third, the Japanese-side "notifying supplier" (normally the importer) files a business commencement report with METI and keeps inspection records for three years. Sort out who holds this responsibility before you order production.

Lithium-ion batteries deserve special mention: they carry the circle PSE mark, and phone chargers, power banks, and AC adapters are exactly the products customs watches for. The factory-audit stage is where PSE problems get caught cheapest. A factory audit can verify that your supplier's certification documents match the actual product and production line.

PSC marks and other mandatory product marks

PSE isn't the only mark system. Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, certain "specified products" must carry a PSC mark — examples include infant beds and oil-burning space heaters.

Other category rules stack up quickly: gas appliances carry their own marks under the Gas Business Act (PSTG) and the LPG law (PSLPG); radio and wireless equipment needs technical conformity certification under the Radio Act (the "Giteki" mark), so Bluetooth and Wi-Fi products need this on top of PSE; pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and medical devices are regulated by the MHLW under a separate regime that generally requires prior notification or approval; textiles and apparel need Japanese-language quality labeling covering fiber content, care instructions, and the importer's details.

Japan regulates by product category with real enforcement, and each category has its own ministry. Your customs broker handles the declaration; the compliance homework for your specific category is yours. Ask the broker early, not after the goods sail.

Food, tableware, and anything that touches food

The Food Sanitation Act requires anyone importing food, food additives, apparatus, containers and packages, or toys for infants — for sale or business use — to notify the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare on each import occasion. That notification goes to the quarantine station at the port of arrival and must be submitted before customs clearance finishes.

At the quarantine station, food sanitation inspectors examine the documents and may order inspections. If the food is considered likely to violate the Act, the importer is ordered to test at its own expense, and the goods don't clear until the results are in. Violations lead to orders to discard or reship.

Practical implications for sourcing from China:

• Food-contact materials count. Ceramics, melamine tableware, silicone kitchenware, and stainless-steel cookware all fall under the notification requirement. Bring material composition and test reports for restricted substances.
• First-time importers are commonly instructed to arrange voluntary inspections. Budget for testing costs and a few extra days.
• Personal-use imports are exempt, but anything you plan to sell is not.
• A pre-shipment quality inspection checking labeling, workmanship, and basic safety parameters catches the fixable problems early.

Because food cargo often needs coordinated scheduling between the broker and the quarantine station, factor this into your timeline alongside freight.

Labeling in Japanese: what the package must say

Japan requires product information in Japanese for domestic sale. The exact obligations depend on the category, but the common requirements include the product name and the importer's name and address in Japanese; for textiles, fiber composition and care symbols in Japanese; for electronics, the PSE mark plus rated voltage (100V/200V systems) and the manufacturer's details; for food, ingredients, allergens, nutrition labeling, expiry dates, and storage instructions in Japanese.

User manuals for electrical products are expected in Japanese, and plug types are Type A (two flat pins), relevant for anything you ship with a power cord.

The labeling conversation belongs in your product development phase, not at the port. Chinese factories can print Japanese packaging and manuals routinely; they just need the approved Japanese text from you.

Choosing ports and shipping modes

Japan's main container ports each serve different hinterlands. Tokyo and Yokohama handle the Kanto region (the largest consumer market); Osaka and Kobe serve Kansai; Nagoya covers the manufacturing belt. For air freight, Narita and Haneda serve Tokyo, Kansai International serves Osaka.

The China–Japan lane is one of the shortest international sea routes in Asia, so sea freight is the default for anything that isn't urgent or tiny. The more important choice for new importers is usually the customs broker and the quarantine coordination at the destination port.

If you're consolidating cargo from multiple Chinese suppliers, a forwarder that can coordinate shipping and logistics from factory pickup through Japanese customs is worth more than the cheapest per-container quote.

Document checklist: what customs expects

Document · Prepared by · Notes

• Import declaration (Form C-5020): Customs broker · Filed via NACCS after cargo enters the bonded area
• Commercial invoice: Exporter/supplier · Precise descriptions, realistic values, correct HS codes
• Packing list: Exporter/supplier · Contents, measurements, gross and net weights per package
• Bill of lading / air waybill: Forwarder · Original signed B/L for sea freight
• Certificate of origin: Exporter · Required for RCEP or other preferential rates
• PSE certificate / test records: Supplier + importer · Must exist before sale; importer keeps records 3 years
• Food import notification: Importer (to MHLW quarantine station) · Before customs clearance completes
• ACP appointment documents: ACP service provider · For non-resident importers

Keep a copy of everything. Japan Customs can revisit valuations and classifications, and the import consumption tax is only recoverable if you can prove you paid it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a license to import from China to Japan?

No general import license is required for ordinary commercial goods. You declare to Japan Customs, usually through a licensed broker, and obtain an import permit after examination and tax payment. What you may need instead are product-specific approvals: food notifications, PSE certification for electronics, or radio conformity for wireless products.

How much is the import tax from China to Japan?

Two charges: customs duty (varies by HS code — Japan's average applied MFN tariff is around 4.3%, and RCEP may reduce it further for Chinese-origin goods) and consumption tax at 10% of the customs value plus duty. Broker fees, freight, and insurance sit on top.

Can I import into Japan without a Japanese company?

Yes, by appointing an Attorney for Customs Procedures (ACP) — a Japanese resident entity that handles customs procedures on your behalf under Article 95 of the Customs Law. Since October 2023 this has been mandatory.

Do electronics from China need PSE certification for Japan?

Yes, if they're sold in Japan. The DENAN Law requires a PSE mark on all electrical appliances in scope: diamond PSE (third-party certification with factory inspection) for 116 specified higher-risk types, and circle PSE (self-declaration with testing) for 340 non-specified types. Mark and records must be in place before sale.

Does CE marking work in Japan instead of PSE?

No. CE is an EU scheme with no mutual recognition in Japan for electrical safety. Products need JIS-based testing and the appropriate PSE mark. If your supplier only holds CE certificates, budget for fresh testing at a METI-registered body.

How long does customs clearance take in Japan?

With complete and accurate documentation, customs sources describe sea cargo clearing within two to three days of arrival and air cargo within about a day. Add time for anything requiring other agencies, such as food quarantine inspections.

Three questions before you book the container

Japan rewards importers who treat compliance as a sourcing task, not a shipping task.

First: does my product need a mark or notification I haven't arranged — PSE, PSC, a food import notification, radio conformity, or Japanese labeling? If uncertain, your broker is cheaper than a container stuck at Yokohama.

Second: who is the importer of record, and if that's you as a non-resident, is the ACP appointment in place? Since October 2023 this isn't optional.

Third: have I compared the duty rate under MFN and RCEP for my exact HS code, with the certificate of origin arranged if RCEP wins?

Get those three right, and importing from China to Japan is one of the more predictable trade lanes in Asia: short transit, computerized clearance, and low tariffs. If you'd like help with supplier vetting, factory compliance, or shipment coordination, write to hi@cnally.com.