Trademark registration answers "who has the right"; customs recordation answers "how the goods get stopped" — miss this border checkpoint, and even the strongest trademark can only chase after the fact. This article focuses on cross-border operations: how China Customs recordation works, what the US CBP and EU AFA each require, costs and validity, and common reasons recordation becomes ineffective; the institutional framework is detailed in the article "Customs Protection Recordation for Trademark Rights" and only its use is covered here.
1. Why Recordation Beats Litigation After the Fact
- Active interception: after recordation, when customs detects suspected infringing goods in its supervision, it can proactively notify the rights holder, who confirms and provides a bond within the time limit to detain the goods;
- Covers all ports: one recordation takes effect at all ports nationwide, without port-by-port applications;
- Extremely low cost: compared with litigation and repeated platform complaints, recordation is the most cost-effective defensive action.
For export-oriented sellers there is an easily overlooked additional effect: recordation creates "whitelist" information of lawful use, making your genuine goods easier for the customs system to identify and reducing seizures caused by malicious complaints from others.
2. China Customs: Recordation Points and Ongoing Maintenance
- Basis: the Regulations on Customs Protection of Intellectual Property Rights and their implementing rules, submitted online through the GACC IP customs protection recordation system;
- Validity: effective from the date of approval by the General Administration of Customs, valid for 10 years; where the remaining trademark validity is less than 10 years, the trademark validity governs;
- Renewal: renewal may be applied for within 6 months before expiry, each renewal lasting 10 years;
- Review: the GACC decides to approve or reject within 30 working days of receiving the application;
- Who: the trademark registrant; overseas rights holders should act through a domestic agent or a domestic office.
Maintenance points: after a trademark change, assignment, or renewal, update the recordation information in sync — otherwise customs written notices may fail to reach you, and missing the confirmation deadline means the goods are released.
3. US CBP: e-Recordation Conditions and Fees
- Prerequisite: must be a valid registered trademark on the USPTO Principal Register; registrations on the Supplemental Register cannot be recorded;
- Fee: charged per trademark per international class (recently on the order of USD 190; defer to the latest figures published on the CBP website);
- Validity: runs with the trademark registration — when the trademark renews, the recordation continues with it, with no separate renewal;
- Application contents: besides ownership information, you must state the place of manufacture of the goods, foreign entities licensed to use the mark and the scope of authorization, and parent-subsidiary or commonly-controlled entities (e.g., shareholding above a certain ratio or actual control) — the purpose is to let customs know what counts as "lawful use";
- Channel: submitted online through CBP's IP recordation system.
In practice, US Customs also trains frontline officers based on identification points provided by rights holders, who should proactively provide genuine-versus-counterfeit comparison materials and known counterfeit leads.
4. EU: The AFA (Application for Action) System
- Legal basis: EU Regulation No 608/2013 concerning customs enforcement of intellectual property rights;
- Two types: national AFA (valid in one member state only) and EU AFA (filed in one member state but effective in multiple member states designated by the applicant; the asserted rights must be valid EU-wide);
- Fees and validity: the AFA itself is free and is usually valid for 1 year, extendable and renewable;
- Materials: enforcement contacts for legal and technical matters must be designated so customs can reach you quickly when suspect goods are found; incomplete applications will be sent back for correction within a time limit.
For sellers in the European market, basing an EU AFA on a single European Union trademark (EUTM) is the most efficient combination for covering multiple countries' ports.
5. After a Seizure: What Each Side Must Do
- Rights holder side: upon customs notice, confirm infringement within the statutory time limit, submit a detention request, and provide a bond (in China, within 3 working days of receiving the notice); goods found infringing will be confiscated and the consignor/consignee may be fined;
- Shipper side: if you believe there is no infringement, submit evidence of lawful source, authorization documents, etc., within the prescribed time limit; failure to produce evidence may result in destruction of the goods;
- Disputes: objections to customs determinations can be resolved through administrative reconsideration or administrative litigation.
A reminder for sellers: a seizure does not necessarily mean someone else was at fault. Common reasons "your own goods get seized": expired recordation information causing mismatches, authorization documents not at hand, or use of the trademark on the goods exceeding the scope approved in the registration.
6. Embedding the Customs Link into Trademark Management
- Record immediately after the trademark certificate issues — do not wait until counterfeits hit;
- Keep recordation information synchronized with the trademark registration, updating promptly after assignment, change, or renewal;
- Build a "customs declaration — authorization documents — actual product photos" evidence package so it can be produced within the time limit when goods are seized;
- Where contract manufacturing or outsourced processing exists, agree trademark use boundaries in advance and keep records, to avoid your own goods being treated as infringing goods.
Recordation conditions, fee standards, and enforcement procedures of customs authorities in various countries are all being adjusted. Before actually proceeding, defer to the latest requirements published by China Customs (GACC), US CBP, and EU customs (or the customs of its member states). The rules in this article are current as of 2026.
7. Where to Get It Done
If you need agency for the above procedures, book a licensed trademark agent's archive management service with MyTMBee, with full assistance from material preparation through submission and follow-up.