Laws of the People's Republic of China

The General Office of State Environmental Protection Administration

Circular of the General Office of State Environmental Protection Administration on Relevant Issues concerning Strengthening the Administration of Examination and Approval of Wastes Restricted from Import

Huan Ban [2004] No. 100

November 1, 2004

The Environmental Protection Bureaus (Departments) of all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government:

Since five ministries, including the State Environmental Protection Administration, jointly issued the Interim Provisions for the Administration of Environmental Protection Regarding the Import of Waste Materials (Huan Kong (1996) No. 204) on April 1, 1996, a good effect of further strengthening the administration of environmental protection against the imported wastes and preventing the overseas wastes from entering into China has been achieved. But illegal import of waste and polluting events thus caused still occur sometimes. The scalping of both the waste, which can be used as raw material but falls within the category restricted from import (hereinafter referred to as "import of waste"), and the approval certificate of import of waste is comparatively serious; some local environmental protection authorities, in examining the import of waste, violate rules and slack in the pass-holding; It is still common that there is a big gap between the real import quantity of waste and that approved. With a view to further strengthening the environment administration of waste import, standardizing the examination and approval of waste import and eliminating such illegal activities as scalping, etc, the related issues are thereby notified as follows:

1.

All environmental protection authorities shall examine the application for import of waste strictly in accordance with the provisions of documents of Huan Ban [2003] No. 61, Huan Ban [2003] No. 69, Huan Ban [2004] No. 344. The provincial environmental protection bureaus (departments), following the administrative procedures on import of waste, submit to the State Environmental Protection Administration for examination and approval of the annual approval quantity of processing and utilizing entities after investigating the annual processing and utilizing capacity and the real production conditions of each entity. The quality in general shall not exceed the real import quantity of last year of each entity;

2.

The environmental protection authorities at all levels must strengthen the supervision and administration of import of waste and carry out regularly examinations on the utilizing ability and utilizing state, pollution prevention and control measures of the processing and utilizing entities. Time limits to rectify and to carry out control measures shall be set for those that can not meet the prescribed requirements.

3.

The administration of ports for import of waste shall be strengthened. The principle of proximity applies to the examination and approval of ports for import of waste. Each waste import approval certificate corresponds to a single import port. The import waste processing and utilizing entities in coastal provinces or municipalities shall not be approved to import waste through import ports of other provinces or municipalities; the import waste processing and utilizing entities in inland provinces or municipalities shall not be approved to import waste through import ports in Guangdong Province or Zhejiang Province;

4.

As prescribed in the No.55 Announcement in 2004 of the Ministry of Commerce, The General Administration of Customs, the State Environmental Protection Administration, the import of the following 7 wastes by means of processing trade is forbidden:

(1)

slag, scruff, fire coat and other waste (26190000);

(2)

waste steel compressor of automobiles (72044900.10), the waste ironwork and electronic appliances mainly for recycling of waste steel(72044900.20);

(3)

deposited copper (74012000);

(4)

the waste motors (including waste game machines) mainly for recycling of cobber (74040000.10);

(5)

the waste electronic wire mainly for recycling of aluminum(76020000.10);

(6)

ships for dissembling and other floating structures (89080000);

(7)

the calx and offal containing more than 10% of Vanadium Pentoxide(26209990.10)ĄŁ

If any other relevant document issued by the State Environmental Protection Administration conflicts with this circular, the latter shall prevail.