Legislation & Regulations

Chinese border enforcement actions underway

China’s General Administration of Customs (GAC) has begun implementing a border control regimen that the GAC says will be in place throughout 2017 and is designed to crack down on smuggling and the importing of “foreign waste.”

Steve Wong, chairman of Hong Kong-based Fukutomi Co. Ltd. and a member of the Plastics Committee of the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), Brussels, says the GAC “convened a meeting in Beijing on Feb. 7, 2017, and decided to launch a one-year campaign for 2017.”

He describes the campaign as “aiming at the crackdown of smuggling on five focused areas, which includes plastic ‘waste.’ The campaign is named Border-gate Sword 2017, though it is translated by some as National Sword 2017.”

As of late February, Wong says, “Nationwide action has been carried out by the GAC [at] ports in Guangdong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Huangpu, Qingdao, Tianjin, Ningbo, Shanghai and Nanjing.

He adds, “This crackdown has so far resulted in 15 smuggling operations being exposed, the arrest of 90 suspects and confiscation of 22,100 tons of ‘foreign waste.’”

These shipments have included electronic scrap, plastic scrap and mixed household waste and recyclables, according to Wong.

“Compared with ‘Operation Green Fence’ [in 2012 and 2013],” he says, “the market is less panicked this time due to the fact that market players are more disciplined than years ago.”

However, Wong also has shared with fellow BIR members the type of correspondence with GAC that Fukutomi is encountering as it ships materials from Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China. In that correspondence, the GAC and another agency are seeking details on recycled resin compositions, processing methods, country of origin of the scrap materials and the nature of the end product to be made from the plastic regrind.

Therefore, Wong says of Border-gate Sword, “Impacts are anticipated as more Customs checks will be exercised, which means time and cost.”