Order No. 1 of 2019 of the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China

MOFCOM Decision to Abolish and Modify Some Regulations has been deliberated and adopted at the 19th Commercial Affairs Session of MOFCOM held on November 1, 2019, and now it is hereby announced.

Zhong Shan, Minister of Commerce of PRC
November 30, 2019

MOFCOM Decision to Abolish and Modify Some Regulations

To continue to deepen the reform of streamlining the administration, delegating power to the lower levels, creating new administrative methods and optimizing the services, MOFCOM has carefully reexamined its relevant regulations according to the requirements of the State Council on reexamination, certification, etc. With the consent of the related departments, MOFCOM has made the following decisions:

I. Abolishing two regulations

(I) With the consent of the State Administration for Market Regulation, MOFCOM has decided to abolish the Administrative Measures for Operation Qualifications of Foreign Labor Cooperation (Order No. 3 of 2014 of MOFCOM and the State Administration for Industry and Commerce).

(II) MOFCOM has decided to abolish the Administrative Measures for Foreign-Invested International Cargo Transportation Agencies (MOFCOM Order No. 19 of 2005).

II. Modifying 10 regulations

(I) MOFCOM has decided to delete “(IV) The legal representative’s resume and valid identification certificate;” in Article 8 and “(IV) The branch company leader’s resume and valid identification certificate;” in Article 11 of the Administrative Measures for Auction (MOFCOM Order No. 24 of 2004).

MOFCOM has decided to change “(VI) The property certificate or lease contract of the permanent office” in Article 8 and “(VI) The property certificate or lease contract of the permanent office” in Article 11 into “The written commitment that the enterprise has bought or rented a permanent office”.

MOFCOM has decided to delete “The application of a foreign-invested enterprise for the permit, change and termination of auction” of Chapter Three.

(II) With the consent of the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration for Market Regulation, MOFCOM has decided to change the content of Article 9 of the Administrative Measures for the Import of Key Used Mechanical and Electrical Products (Order No. 5 of 2018 of MOFCOM, the General Administration of Customs and the State Administration for Market Regulation) into “Any organization engaged in the refurbishment of imported key used mechanical and electrical products shall also provide a written commitment that it has obtained the relevant qualification certificate if a qualification certificate is required by the state.”
 
(III) With the consent of the General Administration of Customs, MOFCOM has decided to add the following description to Subparagraph 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the Implementation Measures for the Automatic Import Permit of Mechanical and Electrical Products (Order No. 6 of 2008 of MOFCOM and the State Administration of Customs and MOFCOM Order No. 7 of 2018 (Revised)) and use it as Subparagraph 8: “If the above-specified materials can be accessed by using an online national government affairs service system, the materials may not be submitted.” MOFCOM has also decided to delete the third and fourth subparagraphs and change Article 7 into “7. If the imported mechanical and electrical products have been bought in an international tendering manner, the bid winning notice for the international tendering of mechanical and electrical products shall be submitted.”

(IV) MOFCOM has decided to delete Item 5 of Subparagraph 3 of Paragraph 2 in Article 5 of the Measures for Registration and Filing of Foreign Trade Operators (MOFCOM Order No. 14 of 2004): “5. Privately or individually-owned businesses (including sole proprietors) that have legally registered with relevant administrations for industry and commerce shall submit their property notarization certificates issued by legitimate public notary offices; foreign (regional) businesses that have legally registered with relevant administrations for industry and commerce shall submit their funds and credit credentials issued by legitimate public notary offices.”

(V) MOFCOM has decided to make the following changes in the Measures for Foreign Aid Project Implementer Qualification Recognition (MOFCOM Order No. 1 of 2015):

1. Deleting “(II) Having the qualifications for contracting foreign projects” in Subparagraph 2 of Paragraph 2 of Article 6”.

2. Changing the content of Subparagraph 4 of Paragraph 1 of Article 12 into “Description of the business funding and the correctness confirmation”.

3. Deleting “the registration and filing certificate of the foreign trade operator” in Paragraph 2 of Article 12.

(VI) MOFCOM has decided to delete “and the exhibition participation evidence issued by the organizer of the foreign economic and trade exhibition” in Subparagraph 2 of Paragraph 1 of Article 25 of the Administrative Measures for Goods Export Permits (MOFCOM Order No. 11 of 2008)”.

(VII) With the consent of the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation, MOFCOM has decided to make the following changes in the Administrative Measures for Recycling of Renewable Resources (Order No. 8 of 2007 of MOFCOM, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the State Administration for Environmental Protection): 

1. Changing Article 6 into:

“Article 6 Enterprises engaged in the recycling operation activities of renewable resources must meet the registration conditions for the industrial and commercial administration. They can conduct the operation activities only after they complete their industrial and commercial registration.

The registration records on the recycling operators of renewable resources shall be included in the business license. The market regulation department shall share the information on the operators with the relevant departments on the provincial-level sharing platform after it verified their industrial and commercial registration.”

2. Deleting Article 7 and Article 21

“Article 7 Any enterprises engaged in recycling operation activities shall register with a commercial administration department at the same level as the administration for industry and commerce with which it has registered or an agency authorized by the commercial administration department according to the jurisdiction principle within 30 days after it obtains its business license. If anything related to the registration information changes, the recycling operator of renewable resources shall go through the information change formalities at the commercial administration department within 30 days after the change takes place (within 30 days after the industrial and commercial registration change takes place if any industrial and commercial registration information changes).”

“Article 21 If any enterprise violates the provisions of Article 7 of the measures, the commercial administration department shall give it a warning and order it to correct; if it has not corrected for some specified period, the recycling operator of renewable resources shall be fined amount above RMB 500 and less than RMB 2,000 according to the seriousness of the case and announce the punishment to the public.”

3. Deleting “except that it shall register with the commercial administration department according to the provisions of Article 7 of the measures” in Article 8.

4. Changing “the Measures for Investigating, Punishing and Banning Unlicensed Business Operations” of Article 20 into “the Measures for Investigating and Punishing Unlicensed Business Operations”.

5. The following changes shall be made in the clauses including the following organization names: changing “Ministry of Construction” into “Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development”, “State Administration for Industry and Commerce” into “State Administration for Market Regulation” and “State Administration for Environmental Protection” into “Ministry of Ecology and Environment”.

(VIII) MOFCOM has decided to delete the following contents of the Administrative Measures for Refined Oil Markets (MOFCOM Order No. 23 of 2006):

“If a foreign investor runs 30 or more gas stations (including the gas stations built based on his or her investment, the holding gas stations and the leased gas stations) to retail refined oil with different types and brands from multiple suppliers within the territory of China, the foreign holding shall not be allowed” of Paragraph 2 of Article 10.

“(V) The foreign-invested enterprise shall also submit the Foreign-invested Enterprise Approval Certificate of the People’s Republic of China;” of Article 11.

(IX) With the consent of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), MOFCOM has decided to make the following changes in the Interim Measures for Administration of Import Tariff Quotas for Agricultural Products (Order No. 4 of 2003 of MOFCOM and NDRC):

1. Deleting “soya-bean oil, rapeseed oil, palm oil” in Article 3, Article 4, Article 7, Article 10, Article 11, Article 12, Article 24 and Article 26.

2. Changing the content of Paragraph 2 of Article 3 into “The tax items and rates corresponding to the agricultural products of which the tariff quota management is to be implemented shall be separately published.”

3. Deleting “The wool and wool top business shall be operated by designated import companies. The import operation shall be carried out according to the relevant provisions of the Administrative Measures for Designated Operation of Goods Import (MOFTEC Order No. 20 of 2001) issued by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation” in Paragraph 2 of Article 4.

4. Changing the contents of Article 8 into “MOFCOM and NDRC shall respectively entrust the provincial-level commercial administration departments and the provincial-level development and reform administration departments (hereinafter referred to as the Entrusted Organizations) with the following items:

(I) Receiving the applications of applicants and transferring the application materials to MOFCOM and NDRC;

(II) Offering consultation services and transferring the information to MOFCOM and NDRC;

(III) Informing applicants of the points that do not meet the requirements and reminding them of correcting;

(IV) Granting the approved applicant the Import Tariff Quota Certificate of Agricultural Products of the People’s Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Import Tariff Quota Certificate of Agricultural Products).

The list of the Entrusted Organizations shall be published separately.”

5. Changing “bonded warehouses, bonded areas, export processing zones” of Article 9 and Article 20 into “bonded supervision sites, special customs supervision areas”.
 
6. Changing the content of Paragraph 1 of Article 10 into “The application period for the import tariff quotas of agricultural products is from October 15 to October 30 in each year (except for the first-coming first-accepting mode according to the contracts). MOFCOM and NDRC shall respectively publish the next-year total import tariff quota of each agricultural product, the application conditions and the tax items and applicable rates for the agricultural product with the current-year tariff quotas determined by the Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council at the MOFCOM website (http://www.mofcom.gov.cn, the same below) and the NDRC website (http://www.ndrc.gov.cn, the same below) one month before the application period.”

7. Changing “authorizing organization” of Article 11, Article 12 and Article 14 into “entrusting organization”; changing “receive and handle” of Article 11 and Article 12 into “receive”; changing “the application” of Article 12 into “the application materials”: deleting “and the authorizing organization” from Article 28; changing “the original certificate issuance organization” of Article 31 into “the entrusted original certificate issuance organization”; changing “its authorizing organization” of Article 34 into “the entrusting organization”.

8. Changing “November 30” of Article 12 into “November 15”.

9. Changing the content of Article 18 into “As for the agricultural products whose processing trade import is managed by implementing the tariff quotas, the customs shall handle the customs clearance procedures after it sees the Import Tariff Quota Certificate for Agricultural Products with the words “Processing Trade” in the column of “Trade Mode” submitted by the enterprise.

If a processing trade enterprise fails to process and re-export within the specified period, it shall go through the processing trade cancelling formalities within 30 days after the period expires. The customs shall implement the provisions related to processing trade.”

10. Changing the content of Article 22 into “As for the import tariff quotas of the agricultural products for the state trade allocated to end users, if an end user does not sign any contracts before August 15, the user can entrust the import to any enterprises with the trade rights.”

11. Changing the content of Article 24 into “The application period for the import tariff quotas of agricultural products is from September 1 to September 15 in each year (except for the first-coming first-accepting mode according to the contracts). The entrusted organization shall respectively submit the application materials of the applicant to MOFCOM and NDRC.

MOFCOM and NDRC shall respectively publish the application conditions for the import tariff quota re-allocation quantity of agricultural products at the MOFCOM website and the NDRC website one month before the application period.

The information related to sugar, wool and wool tops shall be published by MOFCOM and the information related to wheat, maize, rice and cotton shall be published by NDRC.”

(X) MOFCOM has decided to make the following changes in the Administrative Measures on Prohibiting Import of Restricted Imported Technology (MOFCOM Order No. 1 of 2009):

1. Changing the content of Paragraph 1 of Article 6 into “The local commercial administration department shall review the technology the import of which has been applied for and decide whether the import is allowed within 30 working days after it receives the Application.”

2. Changing the content of Paragraph 2 of Article 12 into “The local commercial administration department shall review the technology the import of which has been applied for, examine authenticity of the technology import contract and decide whether the import is allowed within 40 working days after it receives the document with the previous provision.”

3. Deleting Paragraph 1 and Paragraph 3 of Article 7, Paragraph 4 of Article 8; integrating Article 8 into Article 7; the provision is as follows: “The review of restricted imported technology shall include the following contents: (I) whether it endangers the national security, social public benefits or public morals; (II) whether it endangers human health or safety and the life and health of animals and plants; (III) whether it damages the environment; (IV) whether it conforms to the obligations our country has promised to fulfill.”

4. Adding an article to the measures as Article 8 and making provision as follows: “The commercial administration department and its workers shall have the obligation to keep the commercial secrets they leant during their review of technology import.”

5. Changing “Technology review comments” in Column 1 of the last line of Attached Table 1 Application Form for the Technology Import Restricted by China into “Review comments”. Deleting the second column.

Translated by Liuzhao