n° 169 – December 2020

On October 19 this year, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), its General Administration of Customs, its Ministry of Commerce and its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly published Announcement No. 43 on “Regulating Matters Concerning Import Management of Recycled Brass Raw Materials, Recycled Copper Raw Materials and Recycled Cast Aluminum Alloy Raw Materials”.

Consignments meeting the standards of “Recycled Brass Raw Material (GB/T 38470-2019)”, “Recycled Copper Raw Material (GB/T 38471-2019)” and “Recycled Cast Aluminum Alloy Raw Material (GB/T 38472-2019)” are not deemed to be solid waste and so can be imported freely into China. The customs commodity codes for these brass, copper and cast aluminium alloy raw materials are, respectively, 7404000020, 7404000030 and 7602000020.

A provisional import tariff of 0% is applicable to such imports. When importing, enterprises need to make a truthful declaration regarding: the use of the products; characteristic status; total metal content; copper, brass, aluminium and aluminium alloy content; recycling rate; packaging; and other elements of the recycled raw materials.

On October 26 this year, the National Non-ferrous Metals Standardization Technical Committee issued an opinion letter on the three national light metal standards “Recycled pure aluminum raw materials”, “Recycled deformed aluminum alloy raw materials” and “Recycled aluminum” in an effort to scientifically define high-quality recycled aluminium raw materials, to standardize imports of aluminium raw materials into the market and to promote green and sustainable industrial development. Standards for recycled iron and steel raw materials and recycled plastic raw materials are also being formulated.

On November 9, CCIC London carried out its first commercially-commissioned on-site inspection of “recycling metals” destined for China since the MEE announcement clarifying that the country would allow imports of recycled metals from November 1 this year.

In its bid to ensure the quality of raw materials, the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metal Branch (CMRA) will continue to accept applications up to the end of this year from foreign suppliers and domestic consignees seeking qualification certification covering recycled copper and aluminium raw materials.

Ma Hongchang - Ma Hongchang ()

Ma Hongchang

Regional recycling expert (CHN), provides BIR with a regular update on policy and regulatory developments in China. The following is based on his latest report.


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n° 169 – December 2020