China Releases Announcement on Export Quotas of Rare Earth

Dec. 5 – China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) released the “Announcement on the Application Conditions and Procedures for Export Quotas of Rare Earth in 2013 (Announcement [2012] No.86)” on November 27, clarifying the application conditions and procedures of export quotas for rare earth production enterprises and circulation enterprises. Detailed information can be found below.

Application Conditions for Rare Earth Export Quotas

Enterprises satisfying the following conditions may apply for rare earth export quotas for 2013:

Production enterprises

1. Production enterprises shall have obtained import and export qualifications or have gone through registration formalities for foreign trade operators, and have independent legal status.
2. Production enterprises shall comply with industrial planning and industrial policies for rare earth and relevant regulations on the administration of the rare earth industry, and shall have exported goods every year from 2009 to 2011.
3. The rare earth raw materials of these enterprises shall be sourced from qualified rare earth exploitation enterprises announced by the Ministry of Land and Resources.
4. Smelting, separating and metal smelting enterprises shall be in the list of enterprises that meet the requirements of environmental protection announced by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
5. These enterprises shall comply with relevant policies and provisions of the State on land administration.
6. These enterprises shall abide by relevant State laws and regulations and the relevant regulations of local governments.
7. These enterprises shall have no history of violations of relevant State laws and regulations.

Circulation enterprises

1. Circulation enterprises shall have obtained import and export qualifications or have gone through registration formalities for foreign trade operators, and shall have independent legal status.
2. Each of these enterprises shall have a registered capital of more than RMB50 million and shall have exported goods every year from 2009 to 2011.
3. Exported products shall be from enterprises that meet the requirements and standards for enterprises prescribed by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and relevant certificates and VAT invoices shall be provided.
4. These enterprises shall have been certified through the ISO9000 quality system.
5. These enterprises shall have no history of violations of relevant State laws and regulations.

Application and Examination Procedures

Rare earth export enterprises in all areas shall file applications with the competent provincial commerce departments in the places where they are located.

Competent provincial commerce departments shall then conduct preliminary examinations on qualifications of local enterprises that apply for rare earth export quotas, and submit the list of qualified local export enterprises along with their written preliminary examination opinions to the MOC before December 7, 2012.

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