I. Which regulations are actually violated by non-settlement in agency exports?

According to Article 38 of the 2025 Foreign Exchange Administration Regulations, export proceeds must be settled within 210 days after customs declaration. Under agency export models, if the entrusted party fails to transfer foreign exchange income to the principal, it may involve the following violations:

• Foreign exchange evasion:Failure to settle or transfer foreign exchange income as required
• Tax violations:Export tax refundDiscrepancy between declared and actual foreign exchange collection amounts
• Trade authenticity risks:Discrepancies between customs data and foreign exchange receipts/payments

II. What are the new changes in 2025 foreign exchange supervision?

Compared with 2023 policies, current supervision exhibits three major characteristics:

• Intelligent monitoring upgrade:The real-time data comparison system between the General Administration of Customs and SAFE now covers 98% of ports
• Increased penalty severity:First-time violation fines raised to a maximum of 50% of transaction amount
• Credit punishment mechanism:Non-compliant enterprises will be included in the "Cross-Border Trade Blacklist" and publicly disclosed for three years.

III. How to remedy when discovering the agents failure to settle?

It is recommended to handle it in three steps:

• Step 1: Evidence preservation
  • Collect agency agreements, copies of customs declarations
  • Obtain bank foreign exchange receipt documents (if available)
• Step 2: Compliance declaration
  • Submit Special Circumstances Explanation to SAFE before monitoring deadline
  • Simultaneously report un-settled foreign exchange amounts to tax authorities
• Step 3: Legal recourse
  • Claim breach of contract through commercial arbitration
  • Report to public security authorities if criminal offenses are involved

IV. How to prevent foreign exchange collection risks in agency exports?

It is recommended to establish a triple guarantee mechanism:

• Agent qualification review:
  • Verify agents foreign exchange management classification level (Priority to Class A enterprises)
  • Check customs credit records for past 3 years
• Contract risk control:
  • Clearly specify foreign exchange receipt timeframe (recommended not exceeding 150 days)
  • Include performance bond clauses (recommended no less than 20% of contract amount)
• Real-time process monitoring:
  • Require regular submission of foreign exchange receipt slips from agent
  • Log in to the "Single Window for International Trade" to verify the declaration data.

V. Common Questions Authority Answers

Q: Can the agent claim foreign exchange funds are retained overseas for next purchase?
A: The 2025 new policy explicitly prohibits "offshore cash pooling" operations, as such practices involve structuring transactions and may trigger anti-money laundering investigations.

Q: Does delayed foreign exchange settlement due to exchange rate fluctuations constitute violation?
A: According to Announcement No. 20251 from SAFE, enterprises can apply for a grace period for exchange rate hedging, but must file records 15 working days in advance and provide hedging agreements.

Q: How to handle historical unresolved foreign exchange settlement orders?
A: It is recommended to offset through cross-border RMB settlement or apply to SAFE for a special processing channel (late payment fees of 0.05‰/day will be charged).