(Adds details on customs form, paragraph 6)

BEIJING, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Visitors to China will no longer have to fill in health declaration forms from next month as a way of simplifying entry procedures ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics, state media said on Thursday.

"The move aims to simplify immigration procedures and improve efficiency," it quoted a joint issued by the national quarantine watchdog and civil aviation regulator as saying.

The health forms were started during the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which began in the southern province of Guangdong in late 2002.

Foreign passengers would still have to fill in entry cards, the newspaper said.

And from Feb. 1, people with no goods to declare will not have to fill in customs forms when either leaving or arriving, the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China said in a statement on its Web site (www.caac.gov.cn).

"The complicated procedures have led to growing public complaints as passenger flows increase rapidly," the newspaper said. Olympic organisers expect 70 million visits by foreigners next year, up from 44 million in 2006.

"The rapid increase in passenger traffic poses a challenge. So we're making great efforts to simplify immigration procedures," the paper quoted quarantine official Xia Wenjun as saying. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard, editing by Nick Macfie)

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