China to introduce new application procedure for non-ferrous scrap imports - possibly by late May

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) of the People’s Republic of China gave a keynote speech on the environmental management of copper and aluminium scrap imports at a conference in Ningbo City on April 19 which was hosted by China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metal Branch (CMRA). From this, it emerged that import licence applications could be accepted as early as late May for the eight varieties of solid waste - including copper and aluminium scrap - that will be moved as from July 1 this year to the “Catalogue of Solid Waste Restricted to Import as Raw Material”.

Applications for solid waste import licences will be strictly examined and approved in accordance with the relevant requirements of the Administrative Provisions on “Environmental Protection for Importing Solid Wastes as Raw Materials” (Guo Huan Regulation Soil [2017] No. 6).

The MEE presentation focused mainly on:

I - Conditions for applying for an import permit for “restricted” solid waste

(1) An enterprise applying to import solid waste listed in the “restricted” catalogue shall be actually engaged in processing and utilisation, and is a legal person enterprise established in accordance with the law and having the business scope for processing and utilising solid waste.

(2) The enterprise has the site, facilities, equipment and supporting pollution prevention facilities and measures for processing and applying the imported solid waste, and meets the requirements of national or local environmental protection standards.

(3) The enterprise complies with the relevant provisions of environmental protection management of construction projects.

(4) The enterprise shall apply for the discharge permit within the prescribed time limit.

II - Application materials

The applicant shall submit an application electronically to the MEE through the National Solid Waste Management Information System and, at the same time, shall submit the same information in a paper-based application.

III - The handling process

The provincial environmental protection bureau could start accepting scrap import applications from late May 2019. The MEE will officially accept and approve import applications from July 1 2019.

IV - The work plan for the next step

In the next step, environmental protection departments will continue to work with relevant departments to: (...) Read more