China Amended Regulation on Solid Waste Importation again

Since 24 types of solid waste were added into import ban list on August 10, 2017 (for details please refer to Huatai Circular No. 1803), the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Ministry of Commerce and other two Ministries of China jointly issued the announcement of Amendment on Administrative Catalogue of Waste Importation on April 13, 2018. This amendment mainly includes the following changes:

 

a. 16 types of solid waste, including scrap metal, scrap ship, compressed piece of scrap automobile, smelt slag and industrial waste plastic etc are added into import ban list, effective from December 31, 2018.  

 

b. 16 types of solid waste, including stainless steel waste & scrap, titanium waste & scrap, wood waste & scrap are added into import ban list, effective from December 31, 2019.

Legalliability

According to the relevant regulations of China, dumping, storing and disposing the foreign solid waste in China, importing the banned solid waste or restricted solid waste without license, the Customs shall order to return the solid waste; furthermore, a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 but not more than RMB 1 million may be imposed. If the act constitutes a crime, criminal charges may be brought. If the importer is unknown or cannot be contacted, the carrier shall be responsible to return the solid waste or bear the disposal cost of the solid waste.

 

Suggestions

We suggest that owners should take relevant measures to verify whether the shipments belong to the banned or restricted solid waste before accepting the booking, including requesting the shipper/booking party to provide accurate information, customs code and relevant license of the shipment, etc..

 

We also suggest shipping company who has plan of ship recycling in China shall adjust their plan accordingly in order to locate a proper country/shipyard which could meet with the relevant convention or local regulation.

 

Annex I: Catalogue of Solid Waste added into import ban list on December 31, 2018

Annex II: Catalogue of Solid Waste added into import ban list on December31, 2019