Laws of the People's Republic of China

The Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation

Announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation on Relevant Issues Concerning Lifting the Passive Quota Restrictions and the Changes of the Relevant Administration Measures on the Export of Some Textiles and Clothing

[2001] No.20

December 4, 2001

According to the provisions of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the relevant provisions of the Protocol on the Accession of the People's Republic of China, China shall enjoy the integrated treatment in the area of textile trade, which includes the lift of quota restrictions on the export of some textiles/clothing from China by the countries and regions that have established the quota regime such as the United States, European Union (EU), Canada, and Turkey, etc. The varieties on which the quota restriction is lifted and the changes of the relevant administration measures are hereby announced as follows:

1.

From December 11, 2001, EU and the United States will lift their quota restrictions on China's exports of the products listed in its first stage and second stage integrated inventories submitted to the WTO textiles/clothing supervision body, and EU will lift its quota restrictions on some other varieties at the same time; from January 1, 2002, Turkey will lift the quota restrictions on China's exports of products listed in the first stage and second stage integrated inventories submitted to WTO textiles/clothing supervision body, the United States, EU, Canada and Turkey will lift the quota restrictions on China's exports of products listed in the third stage integrated inventories submitted to the WTO textiles/clothing supervision body. Of these, the United States and Canada will only lift the quota restrictions on some HS-categorized products of some quota varieties, and shall retain the quota restrictions on the other HS-categorized of those varieties. (See attachment 1 for the specific varieties on which the quota restriction is cancelled)

2.

On the day lifting quota restrictions, no matter whether the goods are under the quota restrictions when shipped out of China, the customs of the import countries will no longer check the textile export licenses or the textile import licenses issued by the import countries for the China's textiles/clothing exports on which the quota restrictions have been lifted.

3.

From January 1, 2002, the United States will cancel the license administration of some non-quota-administered textiles/clothing exports from China (see attachment 2 for the products of which the license administration is cancelled). The license issuing organs will stop issuance of licensing on the exports of these products from the day of cancellation.

4.

EU and Turkey formerly imposed no quota restrictions on some exports from China as listed in the first second and third stage integrated product inventories submitted to the WTO textiles/clothing supervision body, but now China need to provide certificates of origin when exporting those products to EU and Turkey (see attachment 3 for the specific product varieties). From December 11, 2001, the certificates of textile origin are no longer needed for the exports to EU of the products as listed in the first and second stage submitted varieties in attachment 3; From January 1, 2002, the certificates of textile origin are no longer needed for the exports to Turkey of the products as listed in the first and second stage submitted varieties, and for the exports to EU and Turkey of the products as listed in the third stage submitted varieties. The export license issuing organs shall stop issuing the certificates of textile origin of the corresponding varieties exported to EU and Turkey according to the aforesaid schedule.

5.

When the textiles/clothing export enterprises export the products of the varieties on which the quota restrictions are lifted, they shall apply to the relevant departments in charge for the general certificates of origin or the GSP certificates of origin if the importers still need the certificates of origin.

6.

The enterprises that won the bids for the 21 varieties exported to EU and the 840 varieties exported to the United States in the bidding for textile quota of 2002 no longer need to pay the bid-winning security deposit for the corresponding varieties.

7.

During the interim period before January 1, 2002, the license issuing organs that issue the textile export licenses and the certificates of textile origin (hereinafter referred to as the "export certificates") shall issue the export certificates for the varieties on which the quota restrictions are lifted according to the following provisions:

1)

With respect to the varieties with the lift of quota restrictions on all the HS-categorized products of a variety, the license issuing organs shall: 1. with respect to the varieties with the lift of quota restrictions from December 11, 2001, issue the export certificates to all the enterprises exporting the corresponding products (no matter whether they have the quota for the corresponding varieties of 2001) to use in the customs declaration in China from the day of lift of quota restrictions to January 1, 2002, and the export certificates shall be kept on file at the license issuing organs and no electronic data transmitted to the China International Electronic Commerce Center; and no longer issue export certificates for the products of these varieties from January 1, 2002. 2. with respect to the varieties on which the quota restrictions are lifted from January 1, 2002, no long issue export certificates for the products of these categories from January 1, 2002.

2)

With respect to the varieties that the United States and Canada only lift the quota restrictions on some HS-categorized products of a variety, the license issuing organs shall, from the day of the lift of quota restrictions, no longer issue export certificates for the HS-categorized products on which the quota restrictions are cancelled, and continue to issue export certificates for the HS-categorized products on which the quota restrictions are not lifted.

3)

From the day of the promulgation of this Announcement, if an export enterprise states in written form that the products exported by it to EU and Canada will clear customs formalities after the day of the lift of quota restrictions on the corresponding variety and that it will be responsible for the authenticity of this statement, no matter whether that enterprise has the quota for the corresponding variety of 2001, the certificate issuing organ may issue the export certificates to it to use in the customs declaration in China, and the originals of the export certificates shall be kept on file at the certificate issuing organs and no electronic data be transmitted to the China International Electronic commerce Center. With respect to the products exported to the United States and Turkey, the License issuing organs may not issue the export certificates separately to the enterprise exporting those products before the day on which the quota restrictions on the corresponding products of that variety or the corresponding HS-categorized products of a variety are cancelled.

The varieties on which the quota restrictions are lifted and the respectively corresponding HS category code of the countries and regions with quota regime are listed in the documents on the government website of the MOFTEC (www. moftec. gov. cn) and the website of the China International Electronic Commerce Center (www. info. ec. com. cn). After the corresponding customs HS category codes of China of these products are sorted out, the MOFTEC shall immediately promulgate them separately.

Attachment I:Inventory of Varieties with Quota Restrictions Lifted and the Time of Lift of the Countries and Regions with Passive Quota Restrictions on Textile(omitted)