MOFCOM Announcement No.77 of 2012 Qualification Criteria and Application Procedures of Enterprises Exporting Tungsten, Antimony and Silver under State Trade and Export Suppliers of Tungsten and Antimony in 2013 – BRICS Information Sharing & Exchanging Platform

Issued by: Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
Announcement No.77, 2012
Date of Issuance: October 31, 2012

In order to protect resources and environment, coordinate with national industrial policies and further strengthen export administration of rare metals, Qualification Criteria and Application Procedures of Enterprises Exporting Tungsten, Antimony and Silver under State Trade and Export Suppliers of Tungsten and Antimony in 2013 is now issued in accordance with related provisions as specified in Provisional Measures on Export Administration on Tungsten and Tungsten Products, and Antimony and Antimony Products, Provisional Measures on Qualification Certification of Export Suppliers of Tungsten Products and Antimony Products and Administrative Measures on Silver Export.

I. Qualification Criteria of Enterprises Exporting Tungsten and Antimony under State Trade in 2013

A. Enterprises which have obtained export-import operation qualification or handled filing registration procedures of foreign trade dealers and acted as independent legal entities.

B. Enterprises which have passed ISO9000 series quality system certification.

C. Enterprises which abide by relevant national laws and regulations and relevant provisions of local governments, have joined various social insurance as pension, unemployment insurance, medical care, work injury and maternity insurance etc. according to law and fully paid social insurance charges on time, and provided relevant evidence of full payment of various social insurance charges on time as issued by the competent human resources and social security departments.

D. Circulation enterprises shall acquire the products of production enterprises with export supplier qualification in accordance with related provisions as specified in Provisional Measures on Qualification Certification of Export Suppliers of Tungsten and Antimony.

E. Enterprises having obtained export qualification of state trade shall have export performance with respect to tungsten and antimony each year from 2009 to 2011 (enterprises having obtained export qualification of state trade after 2009 shall have export performance with respect to tungsten and antimony each year from the year of being qualified to 2011; performance of enterprises having obtained relevant qualification in 2012 are not assessed for now); newly applying enterprises shall be those having obtained export supplier qualification and tungsten production enterprises’ average annual export supply in recent three years shall be no less than 2,000 tons (equivalent to ammonium paratungstate APT); antimony production enterprises’ average annual export supply in recent three years shall be no less than 10,000 tons (refined antimony) or 8,000 tons (antimony oxide). Moreover, export performance shall be subject to customs statistics; while export supply performance shall be subject to the data reviewed by industry organizations.

If the products of any enterprise are listed in the Export Catalogue of High-tech Products in China issued by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Finance, the State Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Customs, or the Chinese High-tech Products Catalogue released by the Ministry of Science and Technology, or high-tech products identified by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the criteria may be lowered appropriately according to the specific conditions of such products.

F. Enterprises which have no behaviors violating relevant national laws and regulations from 2009 to 2011.

G. Production enterprises also shall meet the following conditions:

a. Enterprises which shall be smelting and processing enterprises with production approval of relevant departments.

b. Enterprises which have obtained ISO14000 series environmental management system certification and the standard pollutants discharge certificates issued by provincial environmental protection authorities; and provide the environmental monitoring report of standard pollutants discharge this year issued by provincial environmental protection authorities.

II. Qualification Criteria of Enterprises Exporting Silver under State Trade in 2013

A. Production enterprises.

a. Enterprises which have obtained export-import operation qualification or handled filing registration procedures of foreign trade dealers and acted as independent legal entities for at least 2 years;

b. Enterprises which have obtained export qualification of state trade shall have export performance with respect to silver from 2009 to 2011 (export performance of enterprises having obtained relevant qualification in 2012 are not assessed for now); newly applying enterprises shall have achieved annual silver output of more than 80 tons (inclusive of 80 tons) in 2011, and such enterprises in Western Region may have annual output of more than 40 tons (inclusive of 40 tons). Moreover, export performance of enterprises shall be subject to customs statistics; while actual output shall be subject to the data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics of China.

c. Production enterprises shall meet prevailing national standards with respect to discharge of industrial dust, wastewater and waste gas generated during production (especially arsenic-containing smoke dust or waste water generated during dore silver pyrometallurgy shall go through bio-safety disposal), and obtain standard pollutants discharge certificate issued by provincial environmental protection authorities and shall provide the monitoring report of this year issued by provincial environmental protection authorities.

d. Dore silver production process and electro-refining production process shall be completed by the same corporate enterprise and meet the requirements with respect to environmental protection measures for the production of dore silver used in electrolysis as specified in paragraph 3 above.

e. Silver recovery enterprises, when disposing of silver-containing waste at the location of acquisition, shall not cause any secondary pollution, and shall meet prevailing national standards with respect to the discharge of such waste.

f. Production enterprises shall carry out production as required in Work Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China and meet prevailing national standards with respect to the quality of their products.

g. Enterprises which abide by relevant national laws and regulations and relevant provisions of local governments, have joined various social insurance such as pension, unemployment insurance, medical care, work injury and maternity insurance etc. according to law and fully paid social insurance charges on time, and provided relevant certificates of full payment of various social insurance charges on time as issued by the competent human resources and social security departments.

h. Enterprises which have passed ISO9000 series quality system certification and ISO14000 series environmental management system certification.

i. Enterprises which have no behaviors violating relevant national laws and regulations from 2009 to 2011.

Enterprises which have passed ISO14000 series environmental management standard certification, registered trademarks for their products in international market, have a long product chain and a high proportion of deep processing for their products on equal conditions shall be given with the priority to any assessment of export operation qualification.

B. Circulation enterprises.

b. Enterprises which have obtained export qualification of state trade and have achieved silver export performance from 2009 to 2011 (subject to customs statistics).

c. Enterprises which abide by relevant national laws and regulations and relevant provisions of local governments, have joined various social insurance as pension, unemployment insurance, medical care, work injury and maternity insurance etc. according to law and fully paid social insurance charges on time, and provided relevant certificates of full payment of various social insurance charges on time as issued by the competent human resources and social security departments.

d. Enterprises which have passed national ISO9000 series quality system certification.

e. Enterprises which have no behaviors violating relevant national laws and regulations from 2009 to 2011.

III. Qualification Criteria of Export Suppliers of Tungsten and Antimony in 2013

A. Enterprises which shall be smelting and processing enterprises with production approval by relevant departments.

B. Among tungsten operation enterprises with production capacity of tungsten (equivalent to production capacity of ammonium paratungstate (APT)) more than 3,000 tons (inclusive of 3,000 tons) (subject to production capacity achieved before the end of 2011, the same as below), enterprises which have obtained export supplier qualification shall achieve average annual export supply of more than 500 tons (inclusive of 500 tons) from 2009 to 2011; among antimony operation enterprises with production capacity of antimony products more than 4,000 tons (inclusive of 4,000 tons), enterprises which have obtained export supplier qualification shall achieve average annual export supply of more than 500 tons (inclusive of 500 tons) from 2009 to 2011.

Enterprises which are exploitation, beneficiation and smelting integrated enterprises, and have a long product chain and a high proportion of deeply processed products on equal conditions shall be given with the priority.

C. Enterprises which meet prevailing national standards or industrial standards with respect to the quality of their products, and have passed national ISO9000 series quality system certification and ISO14000 series environmental management system certification.

D. Enterprises which abide by relevant national laws and regulations and relevant provisions of local governments, have joined various social insurance as pension, unemployment insurance, medical care, work injury and maternity insurance etc. according to law and fully paid social insurance charges on time, and provide relevant certificates of full payment of various social insurance charges on time as issued by the competent human resources and social security departments.

E. Tungsten operation enterprises with a recovery rate in main process flow from tungsten concentrate to ammonium paratungstate (APT) higher than 90%, and a recovery rate from ammonium paratungstate (APT) to tungsten powder higher than 97%; and antimony operation enterprises with a gross recovery rate from antimony concentrate to refined antimony higher than 80%.
F. Tungsten operation enterprises with energy consumption of less than 1 ton sce per ton of output from tungsten concentrate to ammonium paratungstate (APT) and less than 4.6 tons sce per ton of output from ammonium paratungstate (APT) to tungsten powder; antimony operation enterprises with energy consumption of less than 1.27 tons sce per ton of output for smelting of refined antimony.

G. Enterprises which meet prevailing national standards with respect to discharge of industrial dust, wastewater and waste gas, have obtained the approval of provincial environmental protection authorities and shall provide the monitoring report issued by provincial environmental protection authorities in that year.

H. Enterprises which are well-equipped, with main equipment, instrument and apparatus manufactured after 1995.

I. Smelting enterprises shall acquire tungsten concentrate, antimony concentrate and primary products from mining enterprises with mining license and smelting enterprises with export supplier qualification.

J. Enterprises which have obtained export qualification of tungsten and antimony under state trade in 2013 will obtain export supplier qualification of tungsten and antimony in 2013 automatically.

IV. Relevant Review and Application Procedures

A. Local competent business departments, according to qualification criteria of export enterprises of tungsten and antimony under state trade in 2013, and the requirements of national industrial policies, will give priority to exploitation, beneficiation and smelting integrated enterprises, review the enterprises meeting export qualification of state trade among local enterprises which have obtained export qualification of tungsten and antimony under state trade in 2012, and submit review opinions to the Ministry of Commerce before November 25, 2012 (Department of Foreign Trade, relevant application materials to be attached). Enterprises under the Central Government which have obtained export qualification of tungsten and antimony under state trade in 2012 will, according to qualification criteria of export enterprises of tungsten and antimony under state trade, submit the application materials to the Ministry of Commerce (Department of Foreign Trade, relevant application materials to be attached) before November 25, 2012.

B. Local competent business departments, according to qualification criteria of export enterprises of silver under state trade in 2013, will review local enterprises which have applied for export qualification of silver under state trade and submit review opinions and relevant applications to the Ministry of Commerce before November 25, 2012 (Department of Foreign Trade, relevant application materials to be attached). Enterprises under the Central Government, according to qualification criteria of export enterprises of silver under state trade in 2013, will submit the application materials to the Ministry of Commerce (Department of Foreign Trade, relevant application materials and summary sheets to be attached, please see the annexes; while the forms filled by such enterprises are available for download on the website of China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals &Chemicals Importers & Exporters) before December 1, 2012.

C. Local competent business departments, according to qualification criteria of export suppliers of tungsten and antimony in 2013, will carry out primary examination of local enterprises which meet export supplier qualification of tungsten and antimony in 2013, and submit opinions of primary examination and relevant applications to the Ministry of Commerce before November 25, 2012 (Department of Foreign Trade, electronic copies of relevant application materials to be attached) and also forward to China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association, China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters and China Tungsten Industry Association (written copies of enterprises-related materials and electronic copies of summary statistics sheets to be attached, please see the annexes; while the forms to be filled in by such enterprises are available on the website of China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals &Chemicals Importers & Exporters).

Entrusted by the Ministry of Commerce, China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association, China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters and China Tungsten Industry Association will review the conditions of the enterprises which have applied for export supplier qualification of tungsten and antimony, and give review opinions then submit to the Ministry of Commerce (Department of Foreign Trade) before December 1, 2012.

D. The Ministry of Commerce will examine and approve the enterprises which meet the application conditions for export qualification of tungsten, antimony and silver under state trade, and, if no objections are made after publicity on the website of the Ministry of Commerce, carry out quotas allocation based on the calculation formula and announce such quotas allocation. Meanwhile, according to review opinions of China Non-ferrous Metals Industry Association, China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals & Chemicals Importers & Exporters and China Tungsten Industry Association, the Ministry of Commerce will examine and approve the enterprises which have applied for export supplier qualification of tungsten and antimony, and announce such enterprises if no objections are made after publicity on the website of the Ministry of Commerce.

Annexes: 1. Summary of Review Opinions on Export Supplier Qualification of Tungsten Products and Antimony Products in 2013

2. Summary of Review Opinions on Application Conditions for Quotas of Enterprises Exporting Silver in 2013

Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China
October 31, 2012