The complete prohibition of "foreign garbage" from entering the country is a landmark measure for China's ecological civilization construction. This article will explain the relevant customs supervision policies and regulations on prohibiting the entry of "foreign garbage" through a Q&A format.
Question: What is "foreign garbage"?
A: "Foreign garbage" is the common name for solid waste from abroad. According to Article 124 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, solid waste consists of solid, semisolid and stored-in-container gaseous objects and substances generated by production, people’s daily lives and other activities, which have lost their use value, or are discarded or abandoned although they have not lost such value; objects and substances controlled as solid waste as proscribed by laws and administrative regulations. Except for those that have undergone harmless processing, meet the mandatory national product quality standards and will not endanger public health and ecological safety, or are identified as non-solid waste according to solid waste identification standards and procedures.
Question: What are the common "foreign garbage"?
A: Common "foreign garbage" includes waste animal and plant products, slag, ash and residues, silicon waste and scrap, waste drugs, miscellaneous chemical waste, plastic waste and scrap and leftovers, waste rubber, leather, recycled (waste and scrap) paper and cardboard (including waste specialty paper), waste textile raw materials and products, waste glass, metal and metallic chemical wastes, waste batteries, waste electromechanical products and equipment, etc.
Q: What is the harm of imported "foreign garbage"?
A: There have been many environmental pollution incidents caused by "foreign garbage" in China's history. The "foreign garbage" from abroad is harmful to the environment. During its storage, processing and utilization, a large number of pollutants may produced, which makes it difficult to treat and dispose of, and will pose a serious threat to China's ecological environment and national health and safety.
Q: Does China still allow the import of "foreign garbage"?
A: Since the 18th CPC National Congress, China has unswervingly promoted ecological civilization construction and gradually reduced or even canceled the import of solid waste that can be used as raw materials. In order to implement the provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution Caused by Solid Waste on the import management of solid waste, on November 24, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission and the GACC issued the Announcement on Matters Related to the Comprehensive Prohibition of the Import of Solid Waste (No. 53 [2020]), which prohibits the import of solid waste in any way from January 1, 2021; It is forbidden to dump, pile up or dispose of solid wastes outside China into the country. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment stop accepting and approving applications for import licenses for solid wastes that can be used as raw materials. The move marks a complete ban on "foreign garbage" entering China.
Q: How will the customs deal with imported goods suspected of being "foreign garbage"?
A: According to Article 25 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, if the customs finds that the imported goods are suspected to be solid waste, it may entrust a professional organization to carry out attribute identification and manage them according to law based on the identification conclusion.
Q: What is solid waste attribute identification?
A: Solid waste attribute identification involves determining the category of imported goods based on their origin and then assessing whether they qualify as solid waste according to the definition of solid waste or the relevant identification standards.
The Announcement on Issuing the Identification Procedures for Solid Waste Properties of Imported Goods jointly issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the GACC clearly stipulates the identification procedures for solid waste properties of imported goods.
Q: What legal responsibilities should be borne by those who violate the regulations and import "foreign waste" into China?
A: According to Article 115 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste, those who import solid waste from outside the People's Republic of China into domestic in violation of this law shall be ordered by the Customs to return the solid waste and imposed a fine of not less than RMB 500,000 but not more than RMB 5 million. The carrier shall be jointly and severally liable with the importer for returning, transporting or disposing of solid waste as prescribed in the preceding paragraph.
Article 117 stipulates that for illegally imported solid waste, the competent department of ecology and environment of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall put forward opinions to the Customs according to law, and the Customs will make a penalty decision in accordance with the provisions of Article 115 of the Law; if environmental pollution has been caused, the competent department of ecology and environment of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall order the importer to eliminate the pollution.
Article 152 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that whoever evades customs supervision and control by transporting solid waste, liquid waste or gaseous waste from abroad into domestic shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than five years and shall also, or shall only, be fined; if the circumstances are especially serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than five years and shall also be fined. If an entity commits the crimes mentioned in the preceding two paragraphs, it shall be fined, and the persons directly in charge and other direct responsible personnel shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the two paragraphs.
Question: Will illegal enterprises smuggling "foreign garbage" be restricted?
A: According to Article 22 of the Measures for the Credit Administration of Enterprises Registered and Filed with the Customs, if an import enterprise is under any of the following circumstances, the customs shall identify it as a dishonest enterprise: (I) The case constitutes an act of smuggling and is subject to administrative punishment by the Customs; (II) The number of times that a non-customs declaration enterprise has been subject to customs administrative penalties for violating the regulatory provisions of the Customs within one year exceeds one thousandth of the total number of relevant documents in the previous year, and the cumulative amount of customs administrative penalties exceeds RMB 1 million; (III) The number of times the customs declaration enterprise has been subject to administrative penalties by the Customs within 1 year for violating the regulations on supervision and control of the Customs exceeds five ten thousandths of the total number of relevant documents in the previous year, and the cumulative amount of administrative penalties by the Customs exceeds RMB 300,000.
In addition, enterprises that are punished by the Customs for violating the regulations on customs supervision due to importing solid wastes prohibited from entering China within 1 year cannot become advanced certified enterprises of the customs. If a dishonest enterprise is investigated for criminal responsibility according to law for smuggling solid waste, or if the amount of customs administrative penalties exceeds RMB 2.5 million due to illegal import of solid waste, the customs shall implement joint disciplinary action in accordance with laws, administrative regulations and other relevant provisions and include it in the list of seriously dishonest entities.
The domestic consignee of imported goods shall pay close attention to the situation of imported goods in real time, strengthen the source quality control of purchased goods, and prevent overseas lawbreakers from disguising solid wastes as normal goods or hiding them in normal goods and transferring them to China.
Disclaimer：The above content is translated from Chinese version of this website. The Chinese version shall prevail.