2026 Taiwan Cross-Border Consolidated Shipping Customs Data and Red Lines Report: Annual Customs Report, X-ray Inspection and Enforcement Statistics

What are the key 2025 customs clearance and enforcement figures for Taiwan?

The latest full-year figures are for 2025 (ROC year 114), from the Annual Customs Report for ROC Year 114 published on 2026-09-22 and Customs Administration press releases.The annual report and the press releases use different counting bases, so they are labeled separately below and must not be combined:

How many import declarations and postal parcels does Taiwan handle in a year?

In 2025 there were 73,610,954 import declarations, up from 66,106,928 in 2024; inbound postal parcels numbered 1,602,999, down from 1,821,078 in 2024.A note in the annual report states that the declaration count “includes mini three links, express declarations and express simplified declarations, etc.”; from this, this report infers that cross-border online-shopping parcels imported under express simplified declarations are included in the declaration count (postal parcels are counted separately), but the annual report does not list their number separately:

• Customs revenue: Total customs revenue in 2025 was NT$702.9 billion, of which customs duties were NT$156.6 billion, or 22.28%; total revenue in 2024 was NT$705.9 billion.
• Annual report footnote: “The number of declarations includes Mini Three Links, express declarations, express simplified declarations, etc.”, so the total number of declarations cannot be used directly to estimate the number of online-shopping parcels.
• Not published by the authorities: the number of express simplified declarations, the number of low-value duty-free parcels, and the share of parcels from Mainland China. Express-volume figures and shares circulating in the media could not be traced to any public original source, so this report does not cite them.

What 4 checkpoints does a parcel pass through on its way into Taiwan?

A personal online-shopping parcel imported by express goes through four checkpoints in order: authorization, declaration, X-ray and opening inspection, and penalties for violations.For example, a parcel ordered on Taobao or Pinduoduo and shipped back to Taiwan through a consolidator:

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What new customs clearance rules came in between 2025-10 and 2026-10?

The three new rules most directly relevant to people who use consolidated shipping this year are: reporting overseas consolidators from 2025-11-15, full advance confirmation of authorization from 2026-03-01, and, from 2026-09-22, e-cigarettes and other tobacco-like products no longer qualifying for the fine exemption for cases of NT$5,000 or less.In chronological order:

How many counterfeit goods does Taiwan Customs seize in a year?

In 2025 Customs uncovered 430 cases of IPR infringement, with 4,920,000 counterfeit items and an infringing market value of over NT$900 million (Customs Administration press release 2026-04-15). The top three categories were counterfeit cigarettes, medicines and clothing. The press releases and the annual report use different counting bases, so they are listed separately below:

• Breakdown: in 2025, 4,838,614 counterfeit cigarettes, 39,038 counterfeit pills and 17,326 clothing and accessory items (press release attachment infographic).
• Express is the main channel: the Customs Administration noted on 2025-08-05 that in the first half of 2025 there were 195 cases with an infringing market value of NT$470,000,000; most counterfeit goods seized at the border were imported as express consignments, mainly from China and Hong Kong, and unscrupulous operators often smuggle them in small, split batches. In 2023, 292 cases were seized in the sea and air express zones, 89.5% of the year's total.
• Penalties: under Article 39-1 of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act, infringing goods that are not genuine parallel imports are fined up to 3 times the value of the goods, and the goods are confiscated. In addition, Article 4 of the Standards for Reduction or Exemption of Penalties in Customs Anti-Smuggling Cases exempts from fines cases punishable under Article 36, Paragraphs 1 and 2 or Article 37, Paragraph 3 of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act where the dutiable value does not exceed NT$5,000; from 2025-05-29, goods infringing patents, trademarks or copyrights no longer qualify for this exemption.

How many anti-smuggling cases does Taiwan Customs handle in a year, and how have smuggling channels changed?

In 2025 there were 40,560 anti-smuggling cases, up from 31,946 in 2024; the main import smuggling channels shifted from “passenger baggage and postal parcels” to “passenger baggage and express consignments”.Comparison from the annual report, p.24 and p.25:

• Sources of 2025 cases: 39,709 cases seized by Customs itself and 851 cases transferred from law enforcement agencies.
• Drugs: in 2025, 582 cases with a gross weight of 20,404 kg were seized; drugs in air cargo rose from 92 cases and 1,861 kg in 2024 to 220 cases and 3,698 kg in 2025 (Customs Administration 2026-03-17).
• Enforcement tools: the annual report states that Customs uses declaration screening, intelligence reports, big-data analysis, a risk management database and an AI anti-smuggling system, supported by drug-detection dogs, cigarette-detection dogs and X-ray inspection equipment.

What are the official figures on identity theft in customs declarations and on advance authorization?

What the Customs Administration has published in recent years is the advance authorization take-up: as of 2025-11-30, over 3,000,000 people had signed up, covering more than 8 in 10 simplified declarations.The 2023–2025 counts of identity-theft declarations circulating online could not be found in any of the four Customs Administration press releases on advance authorization (2025-12-17, 2025-12-19, 2026-01-29 and 2026-02-24), so this report does not cite them.

• The only official identity-theft count that can be found: according to a Ministry of Finance press release of 2021-04-07, from 2020-05 to 2021-02 Customs received 1,724 public reports of identity theft in customs declarations, and 1,184 cases with evidence of illegality were referred to the judicial authorities. These are statistics from 5 years ago and do not represent recent trends.
• Legal basis: Ministry of Finance Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1151004666 of 2026-02-23 amended the air and sea express consignment clearance regulations; from 2026-03-01, where the customs-broker authorization has not been completed in the prescribed way, Customs may refuse to accept the declaration (Customs Administration 2026-02-24).
• Scope: limited to individuals importing express consignments under a simplified declaration who authorize online via “real-name verification”; paper case-by-case authorization or long-term authorization remains legal.
• Stricter registration: from 2025-10-28, people newly registering for EZ WAY via “SMS verification (NHI card number)” must instead verify by inserting a physical Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) card.

How do the NT$2,000 duty-free threshold and the 6-times-per-half-year rule work?

A single shipment with a dutiable value of NT$2,000 or less is exempt from customs duty, business tax and commodity tax; once the same person has had more than 6 duty-free releases within a half-year, the exemption no longer applies.The primary basis is a Ministry of Finance announcement and order:

• Check how many times you have left: the “(GB377) Frequent Import Data Inquiry” on the Customs-Port-Trade Single Window, or the Customs Administration's “Tongguan e-Bianjie” app, available from 2025.
• Scale reference: according to a Ministry of Finance press release of 2021-04-07, in the second half of 2020 the value of low-value duty-free goods taxed because they were imported more than 6 times reached over NT$265,790,000.
• A frequently cited advisory: “Online shopping abroad is easy, but watch out for frequent imports” of 2024-10-01 is a Keelung Customs (Taiwan) press release published on the Ministry of Finance website; the rules themselves are governed by the announcement and order in the table above.

Which items are most often stopped and confiscated?

Customs has not published a “ranking of returned items”; based on enforcement priorities and the law, the highest-risk items are pork products, e-cigarettes and other tobacco-like products, counterfeit goods, and declaration mismatches.The rules and consequences for each:

• 6 categories of goods that shall be confiscated when the goods do not match the declaration (Ministry of Finance Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1121027090 of 2023-11-08): ① rice, rice flour and peanuts; ② live specimens of protected wildlife and products made from them; ③ goods involved in evading quarantine regulations; ④ controlled drugs under Articles 19 and 20 of the Controlled Drugs Act; ⑤ controlled radio-frequency telecommunications equipment under Article 65 of the Telecommunications Management Act; ⑥ knives under Article 4, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 3 of the Controlling Guns, Ammunition and Knives Act.
• Requirements: the goods do not match the original declaration, a violation of the competent law is involved, and it seriously affects Taiwan's domestic politics, economy, society, environment or international image; there must be a causal link between the importer's breach of the duty to declare truthfully and the violation of the competent law.
• How “controlled” is interpreted: Ministry of Finance Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1131034572 of 2025-05-06 lists the controlled scope, including counterfeit and banned drugs, prohibited pesticides, medical devices, animal and plant products prohibited from import, and Mainland Chinese goods.

Where do prohibited pork products mainly come from?

Over the past two years, the largest source of pork products seized by Customs has been passenger baggage, not postal parcels.In 2026, as of September 10, there were 697 items in total: passengers accounted for the most at 526 items, followed by postal parcels at 126 and express at 42, mainly originating from Mainland China (including Hong Kong and Macao):

• Postal violations have fallen year by year since 2021: statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (Taiwan), Ministry of Agriculture, on postal parcels illegally containing pork products (counted by arrival tracking number): 413 in 2020, 722 in 2021, 557 in 2022, 461 in 2023, 379 in 2024 and 169 in 2025 as of August 31; no primary-source full-year 2025 figure was found.
• Virus detection: from 2018-08-27 to 2025-08-31, 9,076 pork product samples were tested and 949 were positive for African swine fever virus nucleic acid, an average positive rate of 10.46%.
• Long-term total: from 2018-01-01 to 2025-10-27, Customs seized 13,590 items, 22,377 kg, of pork and products containing pork.
• How postal parcels are penalized: since 2022-05-20, the competent authority has halted, by announcement, mail imports of pork products from countries (regions) where African swine fever has occurred; violators are fined under Article 43, Subparagraph 8 of the Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases: NT$200,000 for a 1st offense and NT$1,000,000 for a 2nd or subsequent offense. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency investigates each case and excludes situations where the recipient is not the importer, such as relatives or friends sending it on their own or the recipient not having bought it; as of 2025-09-15, violations totaled 1,254 cases, and fines were imposed in 9 cases (14 items) where the recipient was confirmed to be the importer.

How is Taiwan Customs cracking down on overseas consolidators?

From 2025-11-15, express simplified declarations must report the e-commerce platform or overseas private consolidator, and Customs uses risk analysis to target substandard overseas consolidators.By 2026-09-15, 18 operators with serious violations had been suspended or had their licenses revoked; suspension and license revocation are penalties against operators registered in Taiwan, and the 2026-03-19 interim results list express customs brokers, freight forwarders and express carriers:

• Tiered management: the Customs Administration stated on 2025-10-27 that e-commerce goods are managed and risk-controlled in tiers according to the consolidator (official consolidator or private consolidator); since 2022-04-01, consolidated-bag clearance has been fully abolished for ordinary air express imports, and only documents and e-commerce goods may be bagged together in small quantities under conditions.
• False advertising: the Customs Administration warned on 2025-03-24 that some overseas consolidators advertise that they can ship controlled or prohibited goods such as river snail rice noodles, mushrooms and e-cigarettes, and in practice clear them by falsely declaring the goods or hiding them; importers who believe them may face heavy fines or even criminal liability.

What should people who use consolidated shipping do after reading this data?

Declare truthfully, do not ship prohibited or restricted items, do not split orders to get around the rules, and complete the authorization: these four things lower the risk of being stopped and penalized.Do them in this order:

Where does the data in this report come from, and what has not been published officially?

Official statistics and rules all come from Customs Administration annual reports, press releases (including those published on the Ministry of Finance website), the Laws & Regulations Database of Taiwan and briefings by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (Taiwan), Ministry of Agriculture; figures in the research section come from the original text of each paper; fact-checked on 2026-10-17.Media reports (such as the Central News Agency) are not used as a source of figures, and the reports cited in the old version have all been replaced with the Customs Administration's original texts:

• How the annual report was read: the text layer of the table pages in the PDF of the Annual Customs Report for ROC Year 114 has overlapping errors, so the figures were read cell by cell after converting the pages to images and cross-checked against the report's main text and Customs Administration press releases.
• Counting bases kept separate: the annual report table (e.g. 4,928,000 IPR infringement items) and the press release (4,920,000 items) use different counting bases; this report lists them in separate columns and does not mix them.
• Items with no officially published figures: the C1/C2/C3 ratio, the opening inspection rate for express and postal parcels, the number of items X-rayed, the number of express simplified declarations, the number of low-value duty-free parcels, the share of parcels from Mainland China, the separate annual volumes for the sea express zone and air express, the 2024 IPR case count and market value, the full-year 2025 count of pork violations in postal parcels, and the 2023–2025 counts of identity-theft declarations.
• Items without a date: the launch date of the Customs Administration's “Tongguan e-Bianjie” app is given inconsistently in the annual report's chronicle of events and in Customs Administration press releases, so this report only says it is available from 2025.
• Implementing units: border inspection is carried out by Keelung / Taipei / Taichung / Kaohsiung Customs (Taiwan) under the Customs Administration; the statistics cited in this report are those published by Customs Administration headquarters.
• Updates: this page is updated when the Customs Administration publishes a new annual report or laws are amended.

What does research say about customs inspection and small online-shopping parcels?

The research below provides background; none of it was conducted on HowBridge, and foreign research can only be applied by analogy:

• 2008 data: at the time most express simplified declarations were exempt from document review and inspection, and only a few selected by computer were checked: Wang Jui-Chien (2010, master's thesis, Graduate Institute of Political Science, National Taiwan University) describes Taiwan's customs clearance system, in which the computer assigns declarations by risk management to C1 (no document review, no inspection), C2 (document review, no inspection) and C3 (document review and inspection); in 2008 there were over 10,000,000 express simplified declarations, and the C1 rate for imports was 96%. The study is about Taiwan, but the data stop in 2008, so it can only explain how the system works and cannot be taken as today's inspection ratio.
• Customs selects inspection targets based on the importer's record and the characteristics of the goods: Kuo and Chou (2021, World Customs Journal) modeled 176,869 import manifests from Taichung Port in 2018 and found that the company's years in business, capital, the trader risk level assigned by Customs, container load, cargo volume and port of loading were all significantly associated with smuggling seizures; validation on 2019 data gave an average accuracy of nearly 83%. The study covers maritime containers at Taichung Port, so it only illustrates the logic of risk management and does not represent the actual screening rules for express or consolidated small parcels.
• Risk scoring can inspect far less yet catch most violations: Laporte (2011, World Customs Journal) tested 104,697 declarations from Senegal's customs and found that inspecting only 20.6% of declarations caught 96.6% of non-compliant declarations. The study covers a developing country in West Africa, so it only supports by analogy the idea that “not every parcel needs to be opened”; Volpe Martincus et al. (2015, Journal of International Economics) used Uruguayan export data and the variation in which inspection channel shipments were assigned to, finding that customs delays significantly reduce firms' exports—again applicable only by analogy.
• Small online-shopping parcels are the main channel for counterfeit seizures: OECD and EUIPO (2021, Misuse of E-Commerce for Trade in Counterfeits) found that 91% of e-commerce-related counterfeit seizures in the EU went through postal services, with China accounting for 76% of items; OECD and EUIPO (2025, Mapping Global Trade in Fakes 2025) estimated that in 2021 trade in counterfeits accounted for 2.3% of global imports and that the share of seizures involving small consignments of fewer than 10 items rose to 79%. Both are EU and global data, not Taiwanese statistics, and only suggest by analogy that small parcels are an international enforcement priority.
• There is an international standard for measuring clearance time: WCO (2025, Time Release Study Guide Version 4) explains that Article 7.6.1 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement encourages members to use time release studies to regularly publish average release times; a Japanese case in the guide shows that clearance time for general maritime cargo fell by 106.3 hours over thirty years. The guide has no Taiwanese data, and Japan's experience can only be applied by analogy.

What are the common terms used in customs clearance data?

Simplified declaration

A way of clearing express consignments with a dutiable value of NT$50,000 or less that are not subject to import regulation restrictions, using a simplified declaration form.

Advance confirmation of customs-broker authorization

Before the declaration is filed, the importer confirms the authorization of a customs broker in advance through a real-name verification platform such as EZ WAY; from 2026-03-01, for people filing simplified declarations who authorize online via real-name verification, Customs may refuse to accept the declaration if the authorization has not been completed as required.

Dutiable value

The base price for calculating customs duty, based on the transaction value and including freight and insurance to the port of import.

Low-value duty exemption

A single shipment with a dutiable value of NT$2,000 or less is exempt from customs duty, business tax and commodity tax; this does not apply to tobacco and alcohol or to agricultural products under tariff quotas.

Frequent imports

If the same taxpayer has more than 6 duty-free releases within a half-year, the low-value duty exemption no longer applies after that.

X-ray scanning and manual opening inspection

X-ray is instrument inspection, applied to 100% of express and postal parcels; opening is manual inspection, done by sampling as a rule.

Confiscation

Ownership of the non-compliant goods passes to the state, and they are not returned to the importer.

Confiscation instead of, or in addition to, a fine

Wording in Article 37 of the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act: the fine and confiscation can be imposed as alternatives or together.

Overseas private consolidator

An operator that receives goods outside Taiwan, consolidates them and ships them to Taiwan; from 2025-11-15, express simplified declarations must report this information.

Counterfeit goods

Goods that are not genuine parallel imports and infringe patents, trademarks or copyrights; trademark rights are acquired under the Trademark Act (Taiwan).

Tobacco-like products

For example, e-cigarettes and their components; under the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act, no one may manufacture, import or sell them.

C1 / C2 / C3

Customs' computer sorts declarations by risk into no document review and no inspection, document review without inspection, and document review with inspection; the current ratio has not been published by the authorities.

What are the sources and the scope of fact-checking?

The sources below were consulted on 2026-10-17; document dates and access dates are shown separately, and no date is invented where none is stated.

Official and government primary sources

• Customs Act (Taiwan) (Article 15; Article 49, Paragraphs 2 and 3) | Document date: 2022-05-11; parent law for the low-value duty exemption: Article 49, Paragraph 2 exempts a single shipment with a dutiable value below the limit announced by the Ministry of Finance, except for frequent imports or specific goods announced by the Ministry of Finance; Article 49, Paragraph 3 provides that what counts as frequent imports is set by the Ministry of Finance; Article 15, Subparagraph 2: IPR-infringing goods may not be imported
• Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Air Express Consignments (Articles 6, 11, 12, 14, 17, 29) | Document date: 2026-02-23; definition of express consignments (70 kg or less per piece, excluding controlled and infringing goods), classification into low-value duty-free / low-value dutiable / high-value (NT$2,000 / NT$50,000); Article 17, Paragraph 2: if the authorization is not completed, Customs may refuse to accept the declaration, effective 2026-03-01
• Regulations Governing Customs Clearance of Sea Express Consignments (Articles 3, 18, 32) | Document date: 2026-02-23; Article 3, Paragraph 2: all sea express imports and exports must pass X-ray equipment inspection; Article 18, Paragraph 2: advance confirmation of authorization, effective 2026-03-01
• Customs Anti-Smuggling Act (Taiwan) (Article 36, Article 37, Article 39-1) | Document date: 2018-05-09; Article 37, Paragraph 1: false import declarations are fined up to 5 times the evaded import duty, or the goods are confiscated instead of or in addition to the fine; Article 39-1: counterfeit goods are fined up to 3 times the value of the goods and confiscated; Article 37, Paragraph 3: where evasion of controls is involved, the penalty is imposed under Article 36, Paragraphs 1 and 3
• Standards for Reduction or Exemption of Penalties in Customs Anti-Smuggling Cases (Article 4; amendment history 2025-05-29, 2026-09-22) | Document date: 2026-09-22; Article 4: cases punishable by fines under Article 36, Paragraphs 1 and 2 or Article 37, Paragraph 3 of the Anti-Smuggling Act where the dutiable value does not exceed NT$5,000 are exempt from fines; exceptions: IPR infringement (counterfeit goods) added on 2025-05-29, tobacco-like products added on 2026-09-22
• Statute for Prevention and Control of Infectious Animal Diseases (Taiwan) (Article 28, Paragraph 1; Article 34, Paragraph 3; Article 43, Subparagraph 8; Article 45-1) | Document date: 2019-12-13; Article 34, Paragraph 3: quarantine-required items may not be imported by mail and shall be returned, confiscated or destroyed; Article 43, Subparagraph 8: violating a measure announced under Article 28, Paragraph 1 is fined NT$50,000 to NT$1,000,000; Article 45-1: passengers who fail to apply for quarantine are fined NT$10,000 to NT$1,000,000
• Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (Taiwan) (Articles 15 and 26) | Document date: 2023-02-15; no one may import tobacco-like products; manufacturers or importers (businesses) are fined NT$10,000,000 to NT$50,000,000, and persons other than such businesses are fined NT$50,000 to NT$5,000,000 (Article 26, Paragraph 2)
• Rules Governing Inspection of Import and Export Goods (Taiwan) (Articles 2 and 3) | Document date: 2024-11-27; inspection is by sampling as a principle and may be manual or by instrument; distinguishes X-ray equipment inspection from manual opening inspection
• Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1121027090 of 2023-11-08 (6 categories of goods to be confiscated when goods do not match the declaration) | Document date: 2023-11-08; original text of the 6 categories of goods to be confiscated, or confiscated in addition to a fine, when the goods do not match the declaration; category 1 is rice, rice flour and peanuts; a causal link is required
• Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1131034572 of 2025-05-06 (meaning of “controlled” in the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act) | Document date: 2025-05-06; meaning of “controlled” in the Customs Anti-Smuggling Act (2025-05-06)
• Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) Order Tai-Cai-Guan-Zi No. 1131014492 of 2024-05-27 (tax refunds on corrected declarations for cross-border online-shopping fraud; cites Announcement No. 1061018778 of 2017-09-07 and Order No. 1061011007 of 2017-05-26) | Document date: 2024-05-27; primary reference numbers for the NT$2,000 duty-free limit announcement (2017-09-07) and the order on the 6-times-per-half-year frequency rule (2017-05-26); parcels involving fraud do not count toward the 6 times
• Express consignments (FAQ: low-value duty exemption and principles for determining frequent imports) | Document date: 2026-07-08; NT$2,000 or less is exempt from customs duty, business tax and commodity tax; does not apply to tobacco and alcohol or agricultural products under tariff quotas; full text of the principles for determining more than 6 times per half-year
• Annual Customs Report for ROC Year 114 (Annual Customs Report 2025) | Document date: 2026-09-22; 2025 declarations, postal parcels, anti-smuggling cases and value of smuggled goods, e-cigarettes, 4,928,000 IPR infringement items, smuggling channels and chronicle of the year's events
• Annual Customs Report for ROC Year 113 (Annual Customs Report 2024) | Document date: 2025-12-03; comparable 2024 figures: 315,000 IPR infringement items, about 72,000 e-cigarettes, import smuggling mainly via passenger baggage and postal parcels
• Counterfeit cigarettes and fake medicines everywhere? Customs guards the border: the most common counterfeits seized last year (Customs Administration press release + attachment infographic) | Document date: 2026-04-15; 2025 IPR enforcement: 430 cases, 4,920,000 counterfeit items, infringing market value over NT$900 million; attachment breakdown: 4,838,614 cigarettes
• Online shoppers take note: from March 1, Customs fully implements advance confirmation of authorization to protect personal data and rights | Document date: 2026-02-24; official announcement of the implementation and scope of advance confirmation of authorization (individual simplified declarations, online authorization via real-name verification)
• Customs fully implements advance authorization to prevent identity theft in customs declarations and protect the public | Document date: 2025-12-19; as of 2025-11-30, over 3,000,000 people had signed up for advance authorization, covering more than 8 in 10 simplified declarations
• Customs response to media reports calling Chinese consolidators and Chinese e-commerce the biggest loophole | Document date: 2025-10-27; 100% X-ray scanning of air and sea express and postal parcels; tiered management of e-commerce goods by official and private consolidators
• Don't bring or buy foreign pork products for Mid-Autumn: protect Taiwan's flavors together | Document date: 2026-09-17; 697 pork product items seized in 2026 as of September 10, with passengers the most at 526, followed by postal parcels at 126 and express at 42; bringing pork products from affected areas into Taiwan is fined NT$200,000 for a first offense and NT$1,000,000 for a second or subsequent offense
• Advance warnings for the Mid-Autumn and National Day holidays and stronger quarantine measures for international postal parcels (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (Taiwan) briefing) | Document date: 2025-09-26; number of postal parcels illegally containing pork products (2020 to 2025-08-31), average African swine fever virus nucleic acid positive rate of 10.46%, 100% X-ray inspection of express and postal parcels
• Illegally buying or bringing tobacco-like products into Taiwan will be punished more severely | Document date: 2026-09-22; tobacco-like products no longer qualify for the fine exemption for NT$5,000 or less; a draft amendment to the Tobacco Hazards Prevention Act (Taiwan) that would make unlawfully manufacturing or importing tobacco-like products (such as e-cigarettes) a criminal offense has been sent to the Legislative Yuan for review (not yet passed)
• Customs to crack down hard on prohibited goods from substandard overseas consolidators to prevent tax evasion and protect the public | Document date: 2026-01-08; from 2025-11-15, express simplified declarations must report the e-commerce platform or overseas private consolidator
• Customs cracks down on illegal activity and severely punishes non-compliant operators | Document date: 2026-09-15; crackdown results (2025-11-15 to 2026-09-15): 18 operators with serious violations suspended or had their licenses revoked, fines of NT$10,080,000, over NT$300,000,000 in back taxes
• Customs' real-name verification curbs identity theft in declarations and tax evasion with marked results (published on the Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) website) | Document date: 2021-04-07; the official identity-theft declaration figures that can be found: 1,724 reports and 1,184 referrals from 2020-05 to 2021-02; recent counts have not been published by the authorities
• Customs seized counterfeits with an infringing market value of over NT$470 million in the first half of the year (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-08-05; 195 cases in the first half of 2025, infringing market value NT$470,000,000; most counterfeits were imported as express consignments, mainly from China and Hong Kong
• Customs enforces border protection of intellectual property rights, with strong results in 2023, ROC year 112 (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2024-02-21; 326 cases in 2023, over 87,000 counterfeit items, infringing market value over NT$690,000,000; 292 cases in the sea and air express zones, 89.5% of the total
• Fighting identity misuse in declarations: Customs plans full advance authorization confirmation next year (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-12-17; on 2025-12-17 the Ministry of Finance gave advance notice of amendments to the express consignment clearance regulations; the share of advance authorization exceeded 8 in 10 (80%) as of 2025-11-30
• Clarification of a press report that full advance authorization for imported express consignments from 3/1 (March 1) could paralyze air clearance (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-01-29; one of the advance-authorization press releases, which does not list identity-misuse declaration counts for 2023–2025; EZ WAY was built and is maintained by Trade-Van Information Services Co.
• Online shopping abroad is easy, but watch out for frequent imports (Keelung Customs (Taiwan) press release, published on the Ministry of Finance (Taiwan) website) | Document date: 2024-10-01; awareness notice on the 6 low-value duty-free imports per half-year; issued by Keelung Customs
• A must for cross-border shoppers: download the “Tongguan e-Bianjie” app to check your duty-free count easily (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-07-22; the Customs-Port-Trade Single Window GB377 service and the “Tongguan e-Bianjie” app show how many half-year duty-free imports you have used
• Customs' explanation of a media report that the government was shifting attention from border control problems in the African swine fever outbreak (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-10-29; from 2025-10-24, the manual opening inspection rate was raised for goods, postal parcels and passenger baggage from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Vietnam and Thailand
• Singles' Day (11/11) cross-border shopping season is coming: Customs urges the public not to buy pork products online, to keep African swine fever out (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-11-05; sea express, air express and postal parcels all go through X-ray scanning; illegal imports of pork products that are found are referred to the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, which imposes heavy fines or refers the case for criminal investigation depending on the violation
• Dragon Boat Festival is near: Customs reminds the public not to bring in or buy meat products online (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-05-27; 432 pork product items seized in 2025 as of May 26, mostly in passenger baggage (303) and postal parcels (110)
• Shopping online for Dragon Boat Festival? Do not buy foreign pork products (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-06-16; 423 pork product items seized in 2026 as of June 16, mostly in passenger baggage (313)
• Customs crackdown shows results, border vigilance continues (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-03-19; interim crackdown results: fines of NT$4,760,000 and back taxes of NT$129,280,000
• Customs builds a risk analysis tool for air cargo to strengthen border enforcement (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-03-17; drugs in air cargo: 92 cases and 1,861 kg in 2024, 220 cases and 3,698 kg in 2025
• From 2025-10-28 (ROC year 114), EZ WAY app registration adds physical NHI card verification to prevent identity misuse (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-10-21; from 2025-10-28, new registrations using “SMS verification (NHI card number)” must verify identity by inserting a physical NHI card
• Clarification of a press report that “EZ Way is run by a private company…” (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2026-08-03; the EZ Way app is only one method of authorization and paper authorization can still be used; Trade-Van Information Services Co. will be asked to add a risk warning to the EZ Way app
• Beware: do not trust false advertising by illegal overseas consolidators, or you may be penalized (Customs Administration press release) | Document date: 2025-03-24; overseas consolidators advertise that they can ship controlled or prohibited goods, but actually clear them by falsely declaring the goods or hiding them in parcels
• Import quarantine section: rules for items sent from abroad by postal service (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency (Taiwan)) | Document date: not stated; violating the announcement “halting mail imports of pork products from countries (regions) where African swine fever has occurred”, made under Article 28, Paragraph 1, Subparagraph 2, is fined under Article 43, Subparagraph 8: NT$200,000 for a 1st offense and NT$1,000,000 for a 2nd or subsequent offense

Research literature

What are common questions about customs clearance data and red lines?

What most often gets a consolidated shipping parcel stopped by Customs?

How many counterfeit goods did Taiwan Customs seize in 2025?

Do 4,920,000 counterfeit items mean 4,920,000 parcels?

Does air express go through X-ray too?

What is Taiwan Customs' opening inspection rate?

How many identity-theft customs declarations are there a year?

Do I have to use EZ WAY from 2026-03-01?

How are the NT$2,000 duty-free threshold and the 6 times per half-year calculated?

Do most prohibited pork products arrive by postal parcel?

What happens if I buy an e-cigarette online and ship it to Taiwan?

Can I be fined for counterfeit goods even if the amount is very small?

Is a shipment that does not match its declaration always confiscated?

How does Taiwan Customs deal with overseas consolidators?

How current is the data in this report?

Further reading