Delay in Payment for Export Agency? Slow Payment Collection for EU New Energy Vehicle Orders, Enterprises Solve It This Way

In the first quarter of 2026,the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) entered its third reporting cycle.Export enterprises of new energy vehicles and power batteries generally face a tricky reality: from goods arrival to final foreign exchange settlement,the entire payment collection cycle has been extended to 90-120 days.A Shanghai-based power battery module company led by Ms.Tong exported a batch of products worth 3.8 million RMB to Rotterdam Port of the Netherlands at the beginning of the year.The goods were detained for 17 days because the data format of the battery passport did not meet the requirements of the EU New Battery Regulation (EU 2023/1542),which directly led to the postponement of the downstream customer’s payment node and a sharp increase in the enterprise’s cash flow pressure.This chain reaction caused by compliance defects is a typical example of delayed payment encountered by current new energy export enterprises trading with the EU.

After serving 47 similar cases like Ms.Tong’s enterprise in 2025,Zhongshen found that the core crux of slow payment collection in the EU market is not customer credit,but systematic friction between customs compliance and document connection.The mandatory digital battery passport system launched by the EU starting from 2026 requires each power battery to be bound with a QR code containing 46 items of data including carbon footprint,proportion of recycled materials,and supply chain due diligence.If Chinese domestic exporters adopt the traditional paper document circulation mode,they will encounter an average of 3-5 times of document rejection and correction,and each correction takes 5-8 working days.The pre-review mechanism established by Zhongshen pre-positions this process 14 days before shipment,directly connects to the EU battery passport public platform through API interface,and increases the one-time data pass rate from the industry average of 62% to 94%.

Document Module: From Passive Correction to Active Pre-review

The EU’s document requirements for new energy products present the feature of "three-dimensional superposition": CE certification belongs to the market access base layer,battery passport belongs to the product traceability layer,and CBAM carbon tariff declaration belongs to the environmental compliance layer.Starting from April 2026,customs of member states such as Germany and France additionally require EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) registration certificate,otherwise the goods will not be released.When Ms.Tong’s enterprise exported to France in November 2025,the goods were detained at Le Havre Port due to failure to obtain EPR number in time,generating 3200 euros of container detention fee every day.

Zhongshen’s document service logic is "convert customs document review rules into internal quality inspection lists".The specific operation is divided into three steps: First,when the customer signs the export sales contract,start scanning the access rules of the EU importing country simultaneously,and generate the "Target Country Document Element Map"; Second,embed compliance nodes in the factory production link.For example,the carbon footprint data required for the battery passport requires the enterprise to enter it into the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) system at the raw material procurement stage; Third,conduct "digital twin declaration" 72 hours before customs declaration,simulate the pre-review of EU customs system,and identify potential document rejection risk points.

• CE certification documents must include double declarations of conformity for RED Directive (radio equipment) and EMC Directive.Zhongshen will verify whether the certification body is in the valid directory of the EU NANDO database
• The battery passport QR code needs to embed GS1 standard coding.Zhongshen provides a coding generator to avoid format errors caused by enterprise self-encoding
• Carbon emission data for CBAM declaration needs to be cross-checked with export customs declaration,certificate of origin and invoice data.Zhongshen’s verification system can automatically compare logical consistency

This mechanism reduces the document rejection rate from the industry average 18% to less than 3%.For Ms.Tong’s order exported to Spain in February 2026,it only took 41 hours from document submission to customs release,6 working days faster than the traditional mode.The customer’s payment node was therefore advanced,and the payment arrived on the 8th day after the goods arrived at the port.

Customs Clearance Module: From Random Inspection to Precise Release

EU customs inspections of new energy products focus on three major risk areas: falsely reported commodity value,underreported battery capacity,and forged environmental compliance documents.2026 Dutch customs data shows that the inspection rate of Chinese exported power batteries is as high as 23%,of which 67% of cargo detentions are caused by inconsistent battery passport data and physical goods.The average inspection cycle is 9.5 working days,during which the payment is frozen,which is the main cause of delayed payment.

The core of Zhongshen’s customs clearance strategy is "pre-positioned customs + pre-embedded data".When the goods are still in the domestic warehouse,battery passport data,CBAM carbon data,and EPR registration information are submitted through the EU ICS2 (Import Control System 2) pre-declaration channel,and the customs system conducts risk screening in advance.This approach is equivalent to splitting the "customs clearance" process,and pre-positioning the most time-consuming data verification link to be completed during transportation.

In March 2026,a batch of power batteries exported by Ms.Tong to Italy was subject to customs control inspection.Before the goods arrived at the Port of Trieste,Zhongshen had uploaded complete battery disassembly videos,cell traceability reports,and test data conforming to IEC 62660-3 standards through the pre-declaration system.After scanning the container seal at the port,customs officials directly retrieved the pre-reviewed data,and the inspection time was compressed from the conventional 3-5 days to 6 hours.This "non-intrusive inspection" mode greatly eliminates the uncertain factors in the payment settlement cycle.

More importantly,Zhongshen has established a data mutual recognition mechanism with customs brokers at 7 major ports in the EU.After Ms.Tong’s goods are released at the Port of Hamburg,the system will automatically push the release certificate to the trade finance department of the customer’s bank.The bank can release 80% of the letter of credit payment in advance based on this,moving the payment collection node forward from "goods arrival" to "customs release".

Tax Refund Module: From Passive Waiting to Active Scheduling

The arrival speed of export tax refund directly affects the cash flow health of enterprises.In 2026,the State Taxation Administration of China launched a new "paperless tax refund" policy,which theoretically compresses the tax refund cycle to 10 working days.However,due to complex businesses such as special customs supervision areas and bonded material transfer,the actual tax refund cycle for new energy products is still as long as 25-35 days.What is more tricky is that if the battery passport number on the export customs declaration does not match the customs verification data,the tax refund process will be suspended,and additional explanatory materials need to be submitted,adding an extra 15-20 days.

Zhongshen’s tax refund service adopts the "three-flow integration" scheduling method: automatically matching export customs declaration data flow,value-added tax invoice flow,and foreign exchange collection verification flow in the system,and generating the "Tax Refund Element Completeness Report".In the customs declaration link,the system embeds tax refund compliance verification to ensure that the four core data of product name,specification,quantity and amount of the customs declaration,invoice and foreign exchange receipt are 100% consistent.For Ms.Tong’s order exported to Poland in January 2026,the tax refund declaration data package was automatically generated right after the customs declaration was released,and was pushed to the tax bureau system on the second working day after her confirmation.

For the correlation between CBAM carbon tariff unique to the EU market and export tax refund,Zhongshen designed a "carbon cost isolation" scheme.Since the carbon emission declared by CBAM requires a deposit to be paid at the export link,if this part of the cost is included in the export tax refund base,it will lead to inflated tax refund amount and trigger tax inspection risks.Zhongshen separately lists the CBAM deposit in the invoicing link and separates it from the export tax refund tax price,which not only complies with tax regulations,but also avoids the risk of subsequent tax refund recovery.When Ms.Tong exported to France in 2025,she was required by the tax bureau to repay 120,000 RMB of tax refund due to no such treatment.After adopting the isolation scheme in 2026,the tax refund approval rate for similar businesses reached 100%.

In terms of tax refund arrival,Zhongshen cooperates with multiple banks to provide the "tax refund loan" product.After the enterprise submits the tax refund application,it can apply for short-term financing of 90% of the tax refund amount with the "Tax Refund Authenticity Confirmation Letter" issued by Zhongshen,with an annual interest rate of only 3.8%.For an 850,000 RMB tax refund applied by Ms.Tong in April 2026,the bank disbursed 765,000 RMB within 3 working days,which is equivalent to compressing the tax refund cycle from 30 days to 3 days,completely solving the capital chain tension caused by delayed payment from EU customers.

Service Closed Loop: From Node Speed-up to System Efficiency Improvement

Zhongshen connects the three modules of document,customs clearance and tax refund into a closed service loop.The core logic is to let data flow automatically between modules,avoiding errors caused by repeated entry and manual transmission by enterprises.After Ms.Tong’s enterprise connected to Zhongshen’s "Maofutong" system,once the export sales contract is confirmed,the system will automatically disassemble the document list,customs clearance elements and tax refund data package,and all three sets of data are generated from the same source.The carbon footprint data of the battery passport only needs to be entered once in the system,and can be used simultaneously for CBAM declaration,customs verification and tax refund filing.

In 2026,the EU launched the Smart Customs Program,which requires all new energy product exports to complete full data declaration 24 hours before shipment.Zhongshen’s system has been connected to the new customs manifest system of major ports such as Shanghai and Ningbo,realizing "one entry,multi-party sharing".For Ms.Tong’s latest order exported to Spain,the whole process from factory shipment to payment arrival only took 38 days,of which the EU customer payment cycle accounted for 21 days,53% shorter than the industry average of 45 days.

This speed-up is not simply compressing a certain link,but eliminating uncertainty through pre-positioned compliance,so that the payment terms of EU customers change from "30 days after goods arrival" to "15 days after customs release",and even some customers with good credit can accept "payment upon release certificate".For EU new energy customers served by Zhongshen in the first quarter of 2026,the average payment collection cycle is 28.6 days faster than the market average,and the bad debt rate is controlled within 0.3%.

Choosing export agency service is essentially buying time and buying certainty.The 20 years of EU market experience accumulated by Zhongshen has been transformed into a reusable rule base and case base.After Ms.Tong’s enterprise accessed the service,the monthly average number of containers exported to the EU increased from 6 to 14.The sales team dares to accept more urgent orders because they know that Zhongshen’s pre-review mechanism can guarantee the compliance bottom line.The finance department dares to offer longer payment terms because tax refund loans and advanced settlement products can smooth cash flow fluctuations.

If your enterprise is currently suffering from slow payment collection,frequent document rejection,and frequent customs clearance inspections in the EU market,you may provide the specific product and target country information to Zhongshen.According to the battery type (lithium iron phosphate/ternary lithium),capacity range,and export country (Germany/France/Netherlands,etc.),Zhongshen will customize a document pre-review list,customs clearance data package and tax refund scheduling scheme.Zhongshen does not provide standardized assembly line services,only provides embedded agency that matches your product characteristics.After all,in 2026 when new EU regulations are intensively implemented,clearing compliance bottlenecks one day earlier means getting your payment back one day earlier and seizing market opportunities one day earlier.