The Ministry of Commerce of China (“MOFCOM”) released its first Export Control White Paper (“White Paper”) on December 29, 2021. Simultaneously, it launched a dedicated “China Export Control Information” website, where it publishes export control related FAQs, case studies and training videos. The White Paper places great emphasis on criticizing the abuse of discriminative, unilateral export controls, and the activity of “building export control small circles in the name of multilateralism”. It also reiterates China’s…
On November 2, 2021, Ministry of Commerce of China (“MOFCOM”) officially released the revised Catalogue of Technologies Subject to Import Prohibition and Restriction (“Technology Catalogue”), effective immediately, which identifies, among others, foreign “data encryption technology employing a key length greater than 256 bits” as a technology that requires import permit when transferred to a Chinese party. This new development may significantly impact multinational corporations’ supply chain operations that involve cross-border transfer of encryption technologies. As…
The Ministry of Commerce of China (MOFCOM) announced on 31 May 2019 that the Chinese government will introduce an “Unreliable Entity List” regime, under which foreign entities or individuals that boycott or cut off supplies to Chinese companies for non-commercial purposes and causing serious damages to Chinese companies would be listed as “Unreliable Entities”. The specific rules, including the list itself and the restrictive measures applicable to the listed entities, will be separately released in the near future. This new regime may be used by China as a countermeasure against export control measures of foreign governments targeting specific Chinese companies.
Background On 18 February 2017, China’s Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs jointly issued Announcement [2017] No. 12 (“Announcement No. 12”), imposing a blanket suspension on imports of coal produced in North Korea for the rest of the year. The suspension includes imports for which applications have been made, but not yet processed by Customs. Announcement No. 12 takes effect from 19 February 2017, and will be effective till 31 December 2017. Announcement…