Announcement No. 57 of 2026, issued by China's General Administration of Customs (GACC) on 8 May and in force from 1 June, lets customs officers pull and lab-test export shipments in two categories importers buy from China by the container every quarter: infant and children's products, and low-voltage electrical apparatus (CIRS Group, 21 May 2026). The test happens inside China, before the goods are released for export, and a failed sample can hold the whole shipment at origin.
Buyers plan for inspection at their own border. US importers watch for CPSC; EU importers answer to market surveillance under the General Product Safety Regulation; UK importers deal with the OPSS. Announcement No. 57 adds a checkpoint on the other end of the route, run by China's own customs service, on goods leaving the country. It targets commodities “not subject to statutory inspection”, meaning ordinary commercial cargo that used to clear for export on documents alone. GACC cites the Law of the PRC on Import and Export Commodity Inspection as the basis, and runs the sampling under the Measures for the Administration of Random Inspection of Import and Export Commodities (Order No. 39, amended by GACC Orders No. 238 and No. 263). The announcement repeals the 2025 program (Announcement No. 150 of 2025), so this is the annual refresh, with the export list set to the two categories above.
What “random” means for your order
Random selection still reaches a lot of cargo. Any shipment in scope can be picked, sampled, and tested for safety and conformity before customs releases it. If the sample fails, or the supplier cannot produce the test reports and certificate of conformity to support it, the fallout lands at the China port: a clearance delay, a returned shipment, or a penalty on the exporter. Your supplier absorbs the penalty. You absorb the delay. For a buyer running a fixed-date reorder of baby carriers, nightlights, or USB chargers, a two-week hold at Yantian or Ningbo is the gap between hitting a retail window and missing it.
“Low-voltage electrical apparatus” is a broad bucket. It covers chargers, power adapters, LED drivers, plug tops, switches, and power strips, the cheap mains-powered long tail that importers order in volume and rarely test at the factory. “Infant and children's products” covers the toys, feeding gear, furniture, and textiles that already draw the heaviest recall numbers at the destination. China is now testing both on the way out, before the goods reach you. For low-voltage electricals, that testing centres on electrical safety and labelling. For children's goods, it covers mechanical hazards, small parts, and restricted chemicals, the same failure modes that pull a product off a shelf abroad.
What to do before your next shipment books
Treat the supplier's export documents as part of the deliverable. Before production closes, confirm the factory holds current test reports and a certificate of conformity for the exact SKU and the standard that applies to it, and confirm the goods in the carton physically match those documents. For an electrical SKU, that means the safety test report ties to the exact model and the rating plate on the unit. For a children's item, it means the conformity certificate covers the materials actually used in production rather than a golden sample swapped out after approval. A pre-shipment inspection that checks the product against its own paperwork, beyond quantity and finish, is what keeps a GACC sample from turning into a surprise hold. Add slack to the calendar as well: assume any baby-goods or electricals order can be pulled, and book production to leave roughly a week of buffer before the sailing you actually need.
The harder problem is visibility. If you cannot see how your supplier runs quality, you cannot know whether a random test will pass, and you find out only when the shipment stops moving. Putting trained eyes inside the factory before the goods ship is how you close that gap.
Sources: CIRS Group, New Customs Rules in China: Random Inspections on These Import and Export Commodities Starting June 1 (GACC Announcement No. 57 of 2026, issued 8 May 2026, effective 1 June 2026), 21 May 2026; CIRS Group, China's GACC to Launch Annual Random Inspection Program Including Imported Food Contact Products From June 1, 11 May 2026.