GACC registration for Nigerian food exporters, explained

GACC registration is what lets a Nigerian food facility export to China. NEPC is the competent authority. How CIFER works and what changed in June 2026.

GACC registration is the step that decides whether your food can enter China at all, and most Nigerian exporters have never heard of it. Chinese rules require overseas food manufacturers, processors and storage facilities to be registered with Chinese customs before they may export food to China. No registration, no entry, whatever your tariff position or your buyer's enthusiasm. This page is what the requirement is, who handles it in Nigeria, and what changed in June 2026.

What is it? #

The General Administration of Customs of China, usually shortened to GACC, maintains a register of overseas facilities permitted to send food into China. The framework has been known in the trade as Decree 248 and Decree 249. Registration is by facility and by product category, done through an online system called CIFER, the China Import Food Enterprise Registration system.

In some product categories the registration is submitted by the exporting country's competent authority. In others the manufacturer registers itself. Which path applies depends on the category, so that is a question to settle before you start rather than after.

Who handles it in Nigeria? #

The Nigerian Export Promotion Council. NEPC announced that it had been appointed Nigeria's competent authority for GACC registration in November 2022, and reported in April 2024 that it had registered 67 companies across seven product categories.

Sixty seven companies, for a country of Nigeria's size and agricultural output, tells you how little known this requirement is. It also tells you that the exporters who have done it are not numerous, which is worth something competitively.

NEPC is therefore your first call, and it is the same body that issues the exporter's certificate covered on our NEPC page. Two different processes, one authority.

What changed in 2026? #

The rules are being replaced. Order No. 280 was promulgated by Chinese customs on 14 October 2025 and took effect on 1 June 2026, superseding Decree 248. Existing registrations made under the old decree carry over automatically until they expire.

So if somebody hands you a guide written in 2023, the mechanism it describes is on its way out. The practical position for a Nigerian exporter starting now is: apply under the current order, through NEPC, on CIFER.

Which products need it? #

Food. That is the scope: manufacturers, processors and storage facilities handling food destined for China. It covers the obvious categories and several people do not expect, because storage counts as well as processing.

The related question, which is different and equally important, is whether your product has market access to China at all. Registration is about your facility. Access is about whether China admits that product from Nigeria. Confirmed Nigerian access exists for cashew nuts, following the extension of quarantine access to all African countries with diplomatic ties effective 9 June 2026, and for wild aquatic products under a signed protocol. For sesame, ginger, hibiscus, soya, shea and palm kernel we could not find a Nigeria specific protocol. Our what China buys page is the honest list.

Ask NEPC both questions in the same email: does this product have access, and can my facility be registered for it.

What a facility needs to look like #

Registration is not a formality. The Chinese system is built around the idea that the exporting country's authority has inspected the facility and stands behind it. In practice that means the things any food safety regime asks for:

• A traceable supply chain, so a consignment can be traced back to where the crop came from
• Documented hygiene and pest control
• Proper drying and storage, because moisture is where mycotoxins start
• Separation of raw and finished product
• Records that survive somebody else reading them
• Testing, to a laboratory standard rather than by eye

China applies mycotoxin limits under its national standard GB 2761. We could not confirm the numeric limits for individual Nigerian crops against a primary source and we are not going to print figures people would plan around. Get them from a laboratory that tests to Chinese standards, in writing.

Labelling, if you are shipping packaged goods #

Imported prepackaged food entering China must carry a Chinese language label with the mandatory information, and the Chinese and foreign text must correspond for the mandatory items. A new standard, GB 7718-2025, takes effect on 16 March 2027.

If you are shipping in bulk, in bags, for further processing, this is not your problem yet. If you are shipping a retail pack with your own brand on it, it is, and the date is close enough to plan around now.

What it means for the zero tariff #

This is the connection people miss. Nigeria has been inside China's zero tariff arrangement since 1 May 2026, running to 30 April 2028, and our zero tariff page explains what it covers. But the tariff applies to goods that are admitted. A facility that is not registered does not get to the point where a tariff is calculated.

So the order is: market access, then facility registration, then quality, then the tariff benefit, which arrives by itself once the first three are done.

Where to start, practically #

1. Email NEPC with your product category and ask two things: does this product have market access to China from Nigeria, and can my facility be registered on CIFER for it.
2. If the answer to both is yes, ask what NEPC needs from you and whether the submission is theirs or yours.
3. Get the facility into the state described above before the inspection, not after.
4. Budget time. This is not a one day registration like the exporter's certificate.
5. In parallel, work on the buyer and the terms, covered on our finding buyers and getting paid pages.

The exporters who will still be shipping to China in 2028 are the ones who did this properly in 2026, while the rest were reading about tariffs.

First published 20 Sep 2026. Last checked 20 Sep 2026 by The ChinaBridge desk. Something here out of date? Tell us in the comments and we will fix it.