The consignees or consignors may inspect the goods detained by the Customs upon consent of the Customs.

Article 20 Where consignees or consignors request release of their goods suspected of infringing any patent right and detained by Customs in accordance with Article 19 of the Regulations, they shall file a written application and provide a deposit equivalent to the value of the goods to the Customs.

Where the consignees or consignors request the Customs to release their goods suspected of infringing any patent right, the Customs shall release the goods and notify the IPR holder in writing in compliance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

The IPR holder that files a lawsuit concerning patent infringement dispute with the People's Court shall submit the copy of the case acceptance notice of the People's Court to the Customs within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the written notice of the Customs according to the provisions of the preceding paragraph.

Chapter IV. Investigation and Treatment According to Functions and Powers

Article 21 The Customs shall implement administration and supervision on the imported and exported goods. If it finds any imported or exported goods involve any IPR filed at the GAC and the use of relevant IPR of the importer or exporter or manufacturer has not been filed at the GAC, it may require the consigners or consignees to declare the conditions of IPR of their goods and submit relevant certification documents within the prescribed period.

If the consignees or consignors fail to declare the conditions of IPR of their goods and submit relevant certification documents in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, or the Customs has reasons to believe the said goods are suspected of infringing the IPR filed at the GAC, it shall suspend release of the said goods and notify the IPR holder in writing.

Article 22 IPR holders shall give a reply in accordance with the following provisions within three working days upon receipt of the written notice of the Customs prescribed in Article 21 herein:

(1) If believing the relevant goods infringe their IPR filed at the GAC and requesting the Customs to detain the said goods, they shall submit the written application for detaining the goods suspected of infringement and provide guarantee according to Article 23 or 24 herein; or

(2) If believing that the relevant goods have not infringed their IPR filed at the GAC, or not requesting the Customs to detain the goods suspected of infringement, they shall give a written statement of the reasons thereof to the Customs.

The IPR holders may inspect the relevant goods upon consent of the Customs.

Article 23 The IPR holders that request the Customs to detain the goods suspected of infringement in accordance with Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 22 herein shall provide guarantee to the Customs according to the following provisions:

(1) If the value of the goods is less than 20,000 yuan, a guarantee equivalent to value of the goods shall be provided;

(2) If the value of the goods is between 20,000 yuan and 200,000 yuan, a guarantee at the value of 50 percent of the goods shall be provided and the amount of the guarantee shall be no less than 20,000 yuan; or

(3) If the value of the goods exceeds 200,000 yuan, a guarantee of 100,000 yuan shall be provided.

The IPR holders that request the Customs to detain the goods suspected of infringing the special use right of their trademarks in accordance with Item 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 22 herein shall provide an overall guarantee to the GAC according to Article 24 herein.

Article 24 The IPR holders with their special use right of trademarks filed at the GAC may submit to the GAC the letter of guarantee issued by a bank or a non-bank financial institution upon approval of the GAC to provide an overall guarantee for their application for Customs protection measures for their special use right of trademarks.

The amount of the overall guarantee shall be equivalent to the sum of expenses of warehousing, safekeeping and disposal of the goods suspected of infringement that the IPR holders applied to the Customs for detainment in the previous year. If the IPR holders have not applied to the Customs for detaining any goods suspected of infringement or the expenses of warehousing, safekeeping and disposal were less than 200,000 yuan in the previous year; the amount of the overall guarantee shall be 200,000 yuan.

The IPR holders that request the Customs to detain the imported or exported goods suspected of infringing their special use right of trademarks filed at the GAC according to Article 16 of the Regulations from the date of use of their overall guarantee approved by the GAC to December 31 of the year do not need to provide any guarantee separately, unless the IPR holders fail to pay relevant expenses according to Article 25 of the Regulations or bear liability of compensation according to Article 29 of the Regulations and the GAC issues the notice on performance of guarantee liability to the guarantors.

Article 25 Where an IPR holder submits an application according to Item (1) of Paragraph 1 of Article 22 herein and provides the guarantee according to Article 23 and 24 herein, the Customs shall detain the goods suspected of infringement and notify the IPR of the same in writing. If the IPR holder has not filed any application or provide the guarantee, the Customs shall release the goods.

Article 26 The Customs that has detained the goods suspected of infringement shall send the detainment voucher for the detained goods suspected of infringement to the consignees or consignors.

The consignees or consignors may inspect the goods detained by the Customs upon consent of the Customs.

Article 27 The Customs shall, after detaining the goods suspected of infringement, conduct investigation on the said goods and other relevant situations. The consignees or consignors and IPR holders shall give assistance in Customs investigation and provide relevant information and evidence truthfully.

The Customs that conducts investigation on the goods suspected of infringement may request the competent IPR department to provide consulting opinions.

Where the IPR holder and the consignees or consignors reach an agreement on the goods suspected of infringement, provide a written application with the relevant agreement attached and request the Customs to release the said goods, the Customs may terminate its investigation unless it holds there is any suspected crime.