Laws of the People's Republic of China

INTERIM PROCEDURES OF THE STATE IMPORT-EXPORT
COMMISSON AND THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN TRADE OF
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA CONCERNING THE
SYSTEM OF EXPORT LICENSING

  (Promulgated on June 3, 1980)

 

SUBJECT: IMPORT & EXPORT LICENSING & ADMINISTRATION

ISSUING-DEPT: MINISTRY OF FOREIGN ECONOMIC RELATIONS & TRADE

ISSUE-DATE: 06/03/1980

IMPLEMENT-DATE: 06/03/1980

LENGTH: 1889 words

TEXT:

These Procedures are formulated for the purpose of strengthening the control of foreign trade.

[Article 1] The People's Republic of China shall implement the system of export licensing as a necessary measure to strengthen its control over export commodities and to co-ordinate the various localities and departments in foreign business transactions and export so as to achieve unity in foreign trade. The Ministry of Foreign Trade of the People's Republic of China (hereafter referred to as the "Ministry of Foreign Trade") and the relevant foreign trade bureaus of the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions authorized by the Ministry are the organs designated by the State to carry out the system of export licensing.

[Article 2] Import and export corporations under the Ministry of Foreign Trade and their branches, as well as corporations approved by the State Import-Export Commission to engage in export business, shall have the right to conduct export business within the approved scope of their business. Any corporation needing to engage in a given export business must first file an application with the approving authorities mentioned above and, after approval of its application, shall on the strength of the approval document register with the Ministry of Foreign Trade or the foreign trade bureau of the province, municipality or autonomous region where the corporation is located and with the relevant Customs office. Only then can the corporation conduct its export business.

[Article 3] In accordance with Article 2, a corporation which has been approved to engage in export business shall be generally regarded as having obtained the licences for export of the commodities within the approved scope of its business, and the Customs office may clear such commodities upon the strength of the Customs declaration filled out by the corporation without requiring any separate application for an export licence. However, export licences must be separately applied for under any one of the following situations:

(1) When quotas are imposed by the country or region for which the commodities are destined (specific procedures shall be prescribed separately by the Ministry of Foreign Trade);

(2) When the Ministry of Foreign Trade considers it necessary to implement an export licensing system to regulate the volume of exports from the various localities and departments so as to prevent the total of such exports from exceeding the capacity of the market in the country or region for which the commodities are destined;

(3) When the Ministry of Foreign Trade considers it necessary to implement an export licensing system to regulate the minimum export prices for the commodities so as to prevent the prices from being set too low;

(4) When a competent authority of the State Council has already explicitly prescribed export controls or prohibits export of the commodities; and

(5) When the Ministry of Foreign Trade considers it necessary to impose appropriate controls on the export of the commodities for a fixed period of time due to changes in the international market-place or as required by China's specific policies towards the importing countries.

[Article 4] Export licences must be applied for under the following situations:

(1) When goods are shipped abroad by enterprises, state agencies, people's organizations, schools or individuals that have not received approval to engage in export business;

(2) When goods to be shipped abroad are products for exhibition and sale at exhibitions in foreign countries organized by relevant departments, enterprises and people's organizations;

(3) When enterprises, factories and mines which have signed contracts with foreign countries for compensation trade, processing on order or loans request to export commodities directly, without going through the foreign trade corporations;

(4) When goods are shipped abroad by foreign diplomatic missions, representatives of foreign enterprises, foreign nationals and tourists; and

(5) When goods taken out of China by foreign nationals and tourists are in excess of a reasonable amount for personal use.

[Article 5] The Ministry of Foreign Trade may at any time notify any enterprise to cease, suspend or reduce the export of any commodity to any country or region under the following situations:

(1) When the export does not conform to our country's specific policies towards the country or region for which the commodities involved are destined;

(2) When the export does not conform to the content and spirit of bilateral trade and payments agreements signed between our country and the country or region for which the commodities involved are destined;

(3) When it is necessary to postpone, suspend or reduce the export for the purpose of balancing foreign exchange in bilateral trade; and

(4) When the quality of the commodities involved does not conform to standards prescribed by the State or the provisions of the export contract, as tested and examined by the State Import and Export Commodity Inspection Bureau.

[Article 6] Export licences should be applied for separately by enterprises, state agencies, people's organizations, schools, communes or individuals. Particulars required in an application should include the name of the export commodity (or goods) concerned, its specifications, the country or region of destination, quantity, per-unit price, total price, delivery date, method of payment (manner of collecting export proceeds) and similar items (application forms for export licences shall be issued separately). Before the goods are shipped, applications shall be submitted to the Ministry of Foreign Trade or the designated foreign trade bureaus of the provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions for examination and approval.

In applying for export licences, the applicant units or individuals must not resort to fraud to obtain licences. Violators shall be held responsible and grave violations shall be punished in accordance with the law.

[Article 7] After examining and approving an application for an export licence, the approving agency shall issue a Licence for the Export of Commodities (hereafter referred to as an "exort licence") in triplicate, one copy to be retained by the applicant unit or individual, and the other two to be forwarded with the Customs declaration to the Customs office for clearance on the strength of inspection of the documents, of which one copy is to be retained by the Customs office and the other copy stamped and signed by the Customs office to be forwarded to the local branch of the Bank of China for checking whether export proceeds in foreign exchange have been collected.

[Article 8] All levels of Customs offices of the People's Republic of China shall supervise the export of commodities and goods in accordance with these Interim Procedures and other relevant provisions. When a licence is required for the export of commodities and goods, the licence must be produced for the Customs office to examine at the time of declaration for export. If any nonconformity between the commodities and the export licence is discovered, the Customs office shall require the unit concerned to obtain a new licence or to correct the errors before it can give clearance. No Customs clearance shall be given for any commodity requiring an export licence before the licence is obtained.

[Article 9] The period of validity of an export licence shall be determined according to such concrete conditions as the delivery date, etc., stipulated in the contract, the longest period being six months from the date of issuance of the licence. The licence shall become invalid after expiration of the period. In case of failure to ship the commodities covered by the application for export within the period of validity, an applicant may apply for an extension of up to two months on a one-time basis, unless an extension is not allowed under the provisions of the export licence. In case of failure to make the shipment within the extended period, an applicant which still desires to export the commodities in question may apply again for an export licence, and the reviewing agency shall re-examine the application and approve it, depending on the situation at the time.

[Article 10] The list of commodities for which licences are required for export by these Procedures shall be formulated by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and shall be subject to amendment at any time according to actual conditions, and the units concerned shall be notified thereof.

Appendix:

Schedule of the Commodities under Export License
		Date for Start of
No.	Name of Article	License	††Remarks
1.	Rice	1982.2.1	††Including: Glutinous
			†rice. Round-shaped rice.
			†Long-shape rice. The above
			†3 assortments also
			†including: Cargo rice.
			†Broken rice. Paddy rice.
2.	Soyabeans	1982.2.1	Including: Soyabeans.
			†Green beans. Black beans.
			†The above 3 assortments
			†also including: Soyabean
			†cakes. Soyabean meals.
			†Soyabean powder.
3.	Maize	1982.2.1	Including: Maize. Maize
			†dregs. Maize powder. Maize
			†protein powder.
4.	Sugar	1982.2.1	White granulated sugar.
			†Soft whitesugar. Red
			†Sugar. Cube sugar. Rock
			†candy. Non centri-sugar.
			†Drown slap sugar. Crystal
			†sugar.
5.	Tung oil	1982.2.1
6.	Canned mushrooms	1983.1.1
7.	Mushrooms in brine	1983.1.1
8.	Osmund dried	1983.1.1
9.	Cotton	1983.2.1
10.	Arabian robes	1982.1.1
11.	Log	1982.2.1
12.	Sawn timber	1982.2.1
13.	Fluecured tobacco	1982.2.1
14.	Musk	1983.2.1
15.	Cornu cervi	1981.3.1	Including: Spotted deer
	pantotrichum		antlers. Wild deer antlers
			†with blood. White lip deer
			†antlers.
16.	Redix ginseng	1981.3.1	Including: Red ginseng.
			†Red ginseng tinctures. Red
			†ginseng tails. Shih-chu
			†ginseng. White ginseng.
			†Wild ginseng sweetened.
			†White ginseng tinctures.
			†White ginseng tails.
17.	Radix scrophulariae	1981.3.7	Cordiceps sinensis
18.	Radix angelicae	1981.3.7	Including: Radix
	sinensis		scrophulariae. Tong-di
			†Radix angelicae sinensis.
			†Xiang Radix angelicae
			†sinensis. Head of Radix
			†angelicae.
19.	Radix astragali	1981.3.7	Including: Radix
			†astragali. White Radix
			†astragali. Black Radix
			†astragali. Jin Radix
			†astragali.
20.	Fructus lycii	1981.3.7	Including: Fructus lycii.
			†Xue Fructus lycii.
21.	Cortex eucommiae	1981.3.7
22.	Rhizoma coptidis	1981.1.1	Including: Rhizoma
			†coptidis. Xi Rhizoma
			†coptidis.
23.	Bulbus fritillariae	1981.3.7	Including: Chuan pei.
	thunbergii		Ching pei. Song pei. Lu
			†pei. Ping pei. Min pei.
			†Xinjiang pei. Yun pei. Che
			†pei (Yuan bao pei).
24.	Radix Rehmanniae	1981.3.1	Another name: Glutinous
			†Rehmannia.
25.	Rhizoma batatatis	1981.3.1	Another name: Huai Rhizoma
			†batatatis.
26.	Poria	1981.3.1	Including: Poria slices.
			†Poria pieces. Poria lumps.
27.	Rhizoma ligustici	1981.3.1