Can you import a car into China?

We get this question most weeks, and it usually arrives in the same shape: someone has heard that China has a special permission for certain kinds of cars, and wants to know whether their vehicle qualifies. There is something real behind that. China does operate a temporary admission regime that covers vehicles. But it is not an import route, it is a visiting route, and the difference costs people a great deal of money when they find out late. Here is what the regulations actually say, read line by line.

The prohibition, and why it catches every used car

Start with the rule that ends most inquiries. Under the Measures for Administration of Import of Mechanical and Electrical Products, Article 30: used mechanical and electrical products listed in the prohibited catalogue may not be imported by any means. Not with a licence, not through a bonded zone, not with special approval.

The current catalogue, in force since 1 January 2019, has 72 entries. Entry 63 is HS Chapter 87, vehicles. It covers the whole chapter. There is no age carve-out, no sub-breakdown, and no exception written into it. Entries 19 and 20 separately cover spark-ignition and compression-ignition engines for Chapter 87 vehicles, so you cannot split the problem by shipping the engine separately either.

Then look at how "used" is defined. It covers items that are used but still functional, items past their quality guarantee period, items stored long enough to show visible wear, items mixing new and old parts, and refurbished items. A car that has been owned, titled and driven is used on any reading of that. So is a restored one.

What about a classic or collector car?

This is the follow-up question every time, so we chased it properly.

We found no official page establishing any special regime, age threshold, or certification exemption for classic or antique vehicles in China. The prohibited catalogue entry for Chapter 87 has no age carve-out. Nothing in the certification rules creates a vintage class.

There is one page that circulates and is worth addressing directly, because people send it to us. A local government article describes antique cars clearing at Tianjin Dongjiang using direct-from-ship release, with "lawful import customs formalities and internationally recognized antique vehicle certification procedures," and describes bonded display and repair as a future service. It names no legal basis and no customs regime. A local development zone describing its own services is not a rule, and we are not going to treat it as one.

If someone is telling you there is a classic car exemption in China, ask them which regulation, article and catalogue entry. We could not find one.

The temporary admission route, which is real

Now the part that the question usually comes from, because there genuinely is a regime here.

Customs Decree 233, the Measures on Administration of Temporary Inbound and Outbound Goods, lists 13 categories of goods eligible for temporary admission. Four of them reach vehicles:

So exhibition cars, motorsport cars, film and television vehicles and test vehicles are all inside the regulation. Each enters under category 5 or 12, as an adjunct to an activity, not as a car import in its own right.

Duration. Article 10: the goods must be re-exported within six months of entry. Extensions are allowed, at most three times, each up to six months, so 24 months in total. Longer than that only for key national projects, national research projects, and exhibits at shows running 24 months or more, with the approval of the directly subordinate customs office.

Security. Article 9: a consignee not using a carnet must provide a guarantee to the competent local customs office. The decree does not state an amount or a form, which means it is set case by case. Exhibits at an exhibition may be exempt from the guarantee where customs officers are stationed on site, but a guarantee is required if the exhibit leaves the customs supervised area.

The ATA Carnet question, where almost everyone gets it wrong

China is in the ATA Carnet system. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade is the issuing and guaranteeing body, Customs runs an ATA Clearing Centre, and the decree sets out the whole procedure. All true. But none of that answers whether a carnet covers your car coming in.

Decree 233 limits carnet imports to goods covered by the international conventions China has acceded to. China’s treaty record shows accession to the Convention on Temporary Admission, the Istanbul Convention, with Annex A and Annex B1 only, in force for China since 27 November 1993. Annex B1 is goods for display or use at exhibitions, fairs, meetings or similar events. Annex C, which is means of transport, is not recorded as accepted. We found no official page showing China later accepted Annex B2, B3 or any further annex.

Here is the trap. You will find a Chinese document listing carnet scope that expressly includes "ships, aircraft, land motor vehicles and railway wagons for commercial or private use." It is real. It is also the rules governing carnets that the Council issues for Chinese goods going abroad. Outbound scope is not inbound acceptance. The two sides of the carnet system are different, and quoting the outbound document to a Chinese customs officer at the port of entry will not help you.

What this means practically: for an exhibition vehicle, the carnet route is on firm ground, because that is exactly Annex B1. For a vehicle being temporarily admitted as a means of transport, do not assume a foreign carnet will be accepted. Plan on the Decree 233 guarantee route and confirm with Chinese customs in advance.

One more limit worth knowing: carnet validity under the convention is up to one year and cannot be extended, which is shorter than the 24 months available under the guarantee route. And goods sent abroad for repair cannot use a carnet at all.

Getting the car onto an actual road is a second, separate permission

Clearing customs temporarily does not give you a car you can drive. That is a different authority and a different document.

Ministry of Public Security Order 90, the Provisions on Administration of Temporarily Entering Motor Vehicles and Drivers, governs foreign vehicles and drivers temporarily entering for no more than three months. It covers, among others, foreign vehicles and drivers approved by a national authority to take part in organized tourism, competitions, or other exchange activities.

How it works:

• You apply to the traffic management authority of the entry city or prefecture-level city.
• The application requires a certificate from China Customs or another authority permitting the vehicle to enter. So the customs step has to come first.
• The temporary plate’s validity matches the period endorsed on the entry approval document, but may not exceed three months, and there are no extensions.
• The plate endorses the permitted areas and routes, and the driver must stay inside them.

If the car is new, the normal import path still has three gates

A genuinely new vehicle is a different conversation, and for completeness here are the three things that govern it.

CCC certification. Products on the compulsory certification catalogue must be certified and carry the mark before they can leave a factory, be sold, be imported or be used in business activities. Category 10 covers vehicles and safety accessories. Special-use imported vehicles and motorcycles are handled as individual-vehicle certification, and since 2018 parallel-import models are no longer restricted to the original or base model when applying. There is an exemption certificate route for products used solely for commercial display and not sold, handled by local market regulators within five working days, but display goods cannot then be sold or given to consumers and the applicant must state the display period and what happens afterward.

Emissions. Imported light vehicles must meet the China 6 standard, which has applied nationwide since 1 July 2020, with a stricter particle number limit from 1 January 2021. Note that China 6 is its own type approval standard, not a recognition of EPA certification, and we could not confirm whether or how a US-spec vehicle satisfies it. No authority page addresses US-spec compliance. Separately, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment published amendments to the China 6 light-duty standard in an announcement dated 30 April 2026, which we have not read.

The Certificate of Import of Goods. Imported whole cars and motorcycles need this certificate, issued by Customs after release, and the traffic authorities check it before registering the vehicle. Crucially, it is not issued for temporary entries, nor for repairs, processing trade, leased goods to be re-exported, re-imported original exports or bonded goods. That is the document-level reason a temporarily admitted car cannot quietly become a permanently registered one.

Two things we could not confirm, and will not guess at

We would rather show you where our research stopped than paper over it.

Left-hand drive. We could not confirm any left-hand drive requirement for imported vehicles. The national safety standard that would settle it, GB 7258, was not reachable on any official host we tried. The only related thing we could confirm is that the Ministry of Public Security temporary-entry application form contains a steering position field with left and right options, which implies right-hand drive vehicles can at least be temporarily admitted. That is an inference from a form, not a rule, and we are presenting it as such.

Designated automobile import ports. There is a formal state-designated list. A provincial commerce department states there are 29 nationwide covering both air and sea ports. We could not find the current official list of port names on any reachable government page. Customs’ own service guide cites a historic reference to seven designated finished-vehicle import ports dating from 1998, which is plainly not the current position. We could not confirm whether Guangzhou Nansha, Shenzhen or Dalian is on the current list. Your Chinese broker needs to confirm this before you book anything.

What we would tell you if you called us about this

The honest summary, in the order we would say it on the phone.

If you want to sell a used American car to a buyer in mainland China for them to own and drive, that does not work, and no amount of structuring the shipment changes it. We will not take that booking.

If your car is going to an exhibition, a race, a film shoot or a testing programme and then coming out again, that is a real job and we can ship it. What we will need from you early is the activity, who is organizing it, the dates, and confirmation from your Chinese agent that the customs guarantee and, if the car will be driven, the police temporary plate are arranged. The customs certificate must exist before the plate can be applied for.

If the car is new, the conversation is about CCC certification and China 6, and both of those are resolved on the Chinese side before the car ships, not after.

And if the real goal is to get an American car to a buyer in that part of the world, look at Taiwan. Taiwanese import rules require left-hand drive, used cars are permitted, and the whole thing is a question of tax and per-vehicle approval rather than a prohibition. It is the one market in the region where a US car fits properly.

Common questions about cars and China