What Exports Are Prohibited or Restricted in China?

Contributed by Ms. Zhao Jing, Hylands Law Firm. For more posts about China Customs Affairs, please click here.

From the perspective of customs supervision in China, exports are divided into three categories: prohibited exports, restricted exports, and free exports.

Table of Contents

I. Prohibited exports

The Chinese government will publish a list of prohibited exports regularly. In addition, some laws also specify the types of goods that are prohibited from being exported.

1. Goods on the list of prohibited exports

China has now published five batches of prohibited exports, including substances that damage the environment, endangered species or their products, charcoal, certain hazardous chemicals, pesticides, silica sand, and quartz sand that threaten human health.

2. Exports prohibited by laws

These refer to newly discovered or valuable wild plants, source plasma, certain chemicals that cause great harm to the environment, etc.

II. Restricted exports

China has lists of restricted exports, on which all the goods listed must acquire export licenses or quotas before being exported.

1. Goods under license management

Exporters must obtain export licenses from licensing authority, China’s Ministry of Commerce, or other government departments, before exporting certain goods, such as dual-use items (sensitive items or precursor chemicals), endangered species, and gold products.

2. Goods under quota management

China has adopted quota management for some exports within a certain period, and only enterprises that obtain export quotas are allowed to export such goods. The goods under quota management vary yearly, including some Chinese herbs and livestock in 2023, for example.