To maintain the China-EU textile trade develope healthily and stably, in accordance to the related regulations of Article 16 of Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Commerce decides to take the measure of export license approval for some textile products exported to EU as form January 1, 2008. Now the related issues are announced as follows:

1. According to the regulations in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on China-EU Textile Trade, management over the export quantity of 10 kinds of textile products exported to EU will be lifted as from January 1, 2008.

2. Export license management over 8 kinds of textile products (referred to Appendix 2 for the list) exported to EU members (referred to Appendix 1 for the catalogue) shall be carried out as from January 1, 2008, and shall be ended as from December 31, 2008.
　　
3. Enterprises managing the textile products listed in Appendix 2 shall be examined to get the qualification to export such products. The standard-making and examination work relating to the qualification shall be undertaken by Chamber of China Textile Import & Export Trade, Association of China Textile Industry and Association of Foreign-funded Enterprises of China. Enterprises up to the related standards may apply for the Export License of Textile Products Exprted to EU(hereinafter referred to as the License).
　　
4. When transporting the textile products listed in Appendix 2 abroad, enterprises that are up to the regulated standards shall apply for the License to local department of commerce (referred to Appendix 3 for the list) authorized by the Ministry of Commerce with export contract, the written authorization of transportation (including the cargo manifest or other warrants of thansportation authorization) needed.
Enterprises applying for the License online or in written form shall deliver export contract and the written authorization of transportation to the local license-issuing authority for report.

5. The local department of commerce shall issue the License within 3 working days as from receiving the application with correct content and complete form. The electronic data of the License shall be collected by the Ministry of Commerce and delivered to China Customs.

6. China Customs shall dispose enterprises’declaring and release them by the License. The License No and the relative information shall be feed back to the Ministry of Commerce, which shall deliver the electronic data of the License to Europe.

7. With respect to goods transported by air, the local departments of commerce all over the country shall mark the related data of the License with “involving air transportation” according to the export contract and the written authorization of air transportation provided by enterprises, and deliver the data to the Ministry of Commerce, which shall send the relative electronic data to Europe.

8. As for the License, the policy of “one license for each parcel of goods, one license for each time of declaring” is taken. The Chinese version of the License is valid within 45 days, while the English version is valid within 75 days. The period of validity of the electronic data is the same as that of the two versions of the License respectively, and shall not be prolonged.

9. The License can not be transferred or changed. In case of changing it, except the category of the goods, other contents of the License can be changed correspondingly after enterprises showing the relative documents. Moreover, the License for the same parcel of goods can not be changed twice.

10. The state of application for the License can be enqured on the terminal of the license administration system. If the state still indicates ” being delivered to China Customs, unreleased” 10 days after declaring, the local department of commerce may mark the relative data of the License with “cleared in China Customs” after enterprise’s submission of the bill of lading or other written documents proving that the goods have been transported abroad.

11. When exporting samples or products used for exhibition or sale abroad,which only can be released by the License required by the EU members, enterprises shall apply for the License regulated in this announcement.

12. The Ministry of Commerce shall conduct regular spot check on the usage of the License. If one of the follwing situations happens on the enterprise, the Ministry of Commerce shall suspend issuing the License of the related textle products for it:
(1). The number of the License applied but not used during the period of validity is more than 5% of the total number applied by the enpterprise during the same period of time;
(2). The quantity unused on the the License (subject to the summary of license renewal of China Cuatoms and Europe) is more than 20% of the total quantity on the License that has been cleared;
(3). The license that has been marked with “involving air transportation” or “cleared in China Customs” is not used during the period of validity;
(4). Applying for the License for the same parcel of goods twice or more, or providing with false documents verified by the license-issuing authorities when applying for renewal of the License;
(5). The total quantity on the License applied by the enperprise is evidently beyond its practical capacity.

13. The following situations, if assessed by the Ministry of Commerce, may not be included in the scope of checking of the usage of the License:
(1).The License is applied for exporting samples or products used for exhibition or sale abroad and the quantity applied is less than 50 pieces (items, kilograms).
(2). During the period of checking, the number of the License applied is less than 20 and the total quantity on the related licenses is less than 2000 pieces (items, kilograms).

14. In case that enterprises are stopped to obtain the License caused by such force majeures as importer’s cancellation of order, natural calamities or transportation accidents, the enterprises may submit application in written form to the local department of commerce with the related documents attached. After examination and assessment of the Ministry of Commerce, such enterprises may apply for the License again.

15. During the period of being stopped to obtain the license, enterprises shall actively cooperate with the Ministry of Commerce, the local department of commerce and associations of trade and commerce in the investigation work, which involves the management of all the textile products in Appendix 2 operated by enterprises including qualification conditions, application and usage of the License.

16. The License shall not be forged or altered. Whoever forges or alters the License authorization documents or the License shall be stopped to obtain the License and punished according to the provisions of the Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Custom Law of the People’s Republic of China, Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Management of the Import and Export of Goods and Measures for License Administration of the Export of Goods.

17. Enterpprises shall operate in accordance with the state laws and rules relating to labor security, safety, environmental protection and with the regulations on product quality, social responsibility and other trade standards made by association of trade and commerce. Any enterprise which does not abide the relative laws, rules or trade standards shall be stopped to obtain the License after approval the related department.

18. The enaction of the Licence and the related regulations on application, and further announcement shall be responsible by the License Affairs Beureau of the Ministry of Commerce.

19. Workers in related license-issuing authorities shall discharge licenses for enterprises strictly according to this announcement and the relative regulations. Whoever breaks the rules shall be punished in accordance with the regulations in Measures for License Administration of the Export of Goods.

20. “Export” in this announcement refers to “exporting to the ultimate destination”, applying to exporting to EU members in general trade, barter trade, processing and assemble trade, compensation trade, processing with import material and other forms of trade.

21. Regulations of this announcement shall not apply to those textile products that are processed in the Mainland by outward processing but the place of origin is not mainland China.

22. All the related export enterprises shall strictly implement the regulations in this announcement to regulate the order of export operation, to improve the quality of export products, to optimize the structure of export commodities and to jointly maintain the steady development of textile export to EU during the transition.

23. Interpretation of this announcement is responsible by the Ministry of Commerce.

Appendix: 1. List of the 27 EU Members
2. Catalogue of Textile Products Permitted to be Exported to EU
3. List of the Local Departments of Commerce Authorized by the Ministry of Commerce

Ministry of Commerce
November 13, 2007