General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China
Notice No. 48 - 2004
In accordance with Notice No. 115 - 2003 of the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), AQSIQ has formulated the Detailed Implementation Rules for the Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials, which is hereby promulgated.
With effect as of today, receiving of applications for registration by overseas supplier enterprises may commence. Application materials should be posted to the following address:
Division of Supervision over Inspection on
Mechanical and Electrical Products
Department for Supervision on Inspection
General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ)
No. 9 Madiandonglu, Haidian District, Beijing 100088
Contact telephone: 0086-10-82260092
8 May 2004
Detailed Implementation Rules for the Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials
Chapter 1 General Provisions
Article 1
These Rules are formulated, in accordance with Notice No. 115 - 2003 of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (hereinafter referred to as AQSIQ) and compulsory requirements concerning national technical regulations such as national environmental protection control standards over imported scrap materials, with a view to practically strengthening the administration of registration for overseas supplier enterprises of imported scrap materials, and regulating the administration of registration for overseas supplier enterprises applying for registration.
Article 2
These Rules shall be applicable to the administration of registration for overseas supplier enterprises (hereinafter referred to as “overseas enterprises”, denoting the selling party to a contract) applying to export scrap materials (with the exception of scrap vessels) to China.
Article 3
AQSIQ shall centralize the administration of registration for overseas enterprises.
Article 4
All overseas enterprises exporting scrap materials to China shall apply to AQSIQ for registration.
The scrap materials from overseas enterprises, which have not obtained registration, are not be permitted to be imported; and the inspection and quarantine authorities at the port of entry shall not accept the inspection application for the same scrap materials.
Chapter 2 Qualifications for Registration and Application
Article 5
An overseas enterprise applying for registration shall fulfill the following conditions:
a) It shall be a legitimate enterprise in its own country (region);
b) It shall have permanent office or processing location and shall have a considerable operating scale;
c) It shall have familiarity with and a good understanding of the technical regulations on environmental protection and applicable environmental protection control standards of China, and shall possess the corresponding infrastructures and testing capacity;
d) It shall establish a quality assurance or environmental quality management system (with an ISO 14000 certificate) or provide a corresponding certificate of eligibility for certification, or have an established corresponding system with descriptive document which has been implemented;
e) It shall have relatively stable sources of supply, and have environmental protection control measures for the sources of supply;
f) It shall have no record of being involved in any major quality problems related to safety, hygiene, and environmental protection in the past three years.
Article 6
When applying to AQSIQ for registration, besides submitting the materials required by AQSIQ Notice 115 - 2003, an overseas enterprise shall submit the following written materials as well:
a) Organizational structure, responsibilities of departments and job positions;
b) An undertaking to abide by the technical regulations on environmental protection, applicable environmental protection control standards and the relevant laws and regulations of China;
c) Information on permanent office and processing locations (floor plans);
d) Certificates relating to type, quantity and environmental quality of supplies;
e) Quality control management system and relevant technical personnel (including control over dangerous waste, contaminated waste and arrangement on discarded waste);
f) Verification and acceptance system for raw materials;
g) Measurement and equipment calibration system;
h) Rules on control over substandard products;
i) Staff training programme;
j) Undertaking on control over environmental quality of goods (undertaking on environmental quality control over supply sources and merchandise suppliers);
k) Undertaking on bearing the cost incurred in the disposal of goods failing to meet environmental quality requirements.
Text materials submitted to AQSIQ in relation to application for registration shall be in Chinese or Chinese/English bilingual version.
Article 7
Applications for registration will not be accepted under any of the following circumstances:
a) The materials submitted do not comply with the requirements stated in Article 5 and Article 6 of these Rules;
b) The materials submitted are untrue and falsified;
c) It has been proved to be the responsibility of supplier enterprises exporting scrap materials for failing to comply with the requirements of the environmental protection control standards of China in the past three years;
d) It has been proved to be the responsibility of supplier enterprises for, through practicing fraud, exporting scrap materials contaminated with dangerous substances or the materials prohibited from importing, or practicing deception.
e) Those who have caused serious consequences by not taking an active role in shipping back the merchandise failing to pass the inspection on environmental protection and required to be shipped back;
f) Those who have caused serious consequences by discarding the merchandise found not up to standard;
g) Those who attempt to divert the rejected merchandise to another port of entry for re-importation;
h) The pre-shipment inspection certificate has been forged;
i) Enterprises with relatively small export volume and unable to guarantee the quality of the merchandise;
j) Other circumstances that do not comply with the requirements of these Rules.
Chapter 3 Evaluation and Approval of Registration
Article 8
Within 30 days of its receipt of the written application materials for registration, AQSIQ will decide as to whether or not to accept the application:
a) For the application materials found complying with the requirements through examination, a Notice of Acceptance of the Application for Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials will be issued;
b) For the application materials found not complying with the requirements through examination, AQSIQ should notify the applicant of supplementing or correcting the materials within 30 days, failure to do which within the deadline being regarded as tantamount to withdrawal of the application;
c) For the application materials found not complying with AQSIQ Notice 115 and evaluation rules through examination, the application shall not be accepted, and the applicant will be notified accordingly.
Article 9
After issuing the Notice of Acceptance of the Application for Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials, AQSIQ will set up an evaluation group to conduct examination, including an evaluation of the document and on-the-spot assessment, on the overseas enterprises applying for registration, aiming at verifying the completeness and trueness of the application materials submitted by the overseas enterprises, checking the effectiveness of their internal management and quality control measures, and measuring and evaluating their ability to guarantee that the exported goods can comply with the requirements of the Chinese environmental protection control standards.
Article 10
Organization and implementation of on-the-spot assessment
a) Set up an evaluation group
The evaluation group consists of several experts in the field of inspection administration of imported scrap materials and environmental protection control, whose qualifications have been validated by AQSIQ, and AQSIQ will designate the head of the evaluation group.
b) Evaluation of the document:
I. The member of the evaluation group will, in accordance with the requirements stated in Article 6 of these Rules, evaluate the application materials submitted by the overseas enterprises, and in accordance with the requirements stated in Record of Evaluation on Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials (Annex 1), conduct evaluation on every item listed under “Documents evaluation” and then give their verdict.
II. After the completion of the document evaluation, the evaluation group will draw a conclusion on the document evaluation. As to those who comply with the requirements, a positive verdict will be given; as to those who do not comply with the requirements, the evaluation group should notify the enterprises of rectifying within 30 days.
III. Where items of non-compliance found in document evaluation have been rectified within the time limit, the evaluation group, through a follow-up examination, will give a positive verdict. Where items of non-compliance found in document evaluation have not been rectified within the time limit, this will be regarded as tantamount to the overseas enterprises withdrawing the application automatically.
c) On-the-spot assessment:
I. The evaluation group should, in accordance with the enterprise’s characteristics and the types of its exporting scrap materials, develop an on-the-spot assessment plan, and notify the on-the-spot assessment plan in writing form to the overseas enterprise that is to be assessed.
II. Implementation of on-the-spot assessment
i. The head of the evaluation group will convene a meeting in order to brief executives of the party to be assessed on items including the scope, objective, base, plan, methods and procedures of the assessment, the resources and facilities required by the evaluation group, contacts between the evaluation group and the party to be assessed, confidentiality undertaking, and etc.
ii. On-the-spot verification. The evaluation groups will, on the basis of the assessment plan and by means of sampling, conduct the on-the-spot verification at the appointed departments and the production and processing sites, collecting objective evidence for evaluation. The evaluation group should, during the process of verification, check every item required in the “Record of on-the-spot evaluation” column and make adequate records in accordance with the requirements stated in Record of Evaluation on Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials, and give their verdict. Where, during the on-the-spot verification, items of non-compliance are found, a report on non-compliance items should be created.
iii. Evaluation group meeting. The evaluation group will, in accordance with the progress of the assessment, hold internal meetings to study and discuss the following items: (1) Progress of the assessment; (2) reaching consensus on the findings (with the evidences), and discussing the report on non-compliance items submitted by assessment personnel; (3) evaluating the internal management and quality control of the party to be assessed; (4) other problems to be solved in the assessment; (5) coming up with an assessment verdict.
During the process of the assessment, the head of the evaluation group should enhance the communication and exchanges with the executives of the party being assessed, and the report on non-compliance items issued shall be signed for confirmation by a representative of the party being assessed. Furthermore, both parities should, through consultation, decide on the time, means, and other details of the rectification of the non-compliance items and the follow-up verification.
iv. The head of the evaluation group should call and chair a summary meeting, briefing executives of the party under assessment and the relevant personnel on the findings of the assessment, and announcing the assessment verdict and the time and means of the follow-up verification.
III. The head of the evaluation group should, after the completion of the on-the-spot assessment, organize the staff to present the evaluation report, which should be submitted to AQSIQ.
Article 11
AQSIQ will review the assessment and evaluation report submitted by the evaluation group. For those complying with the specific requirements through review, AQSIQ will grant them permission for registration and issue a Certificate of Registration for Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials with a registration number.
For those not complying with the specific requirements through review, a Notification of Failure to Meet Requirements (Annex 2) will be issued; re-application may only be made 6 months after the date of the issuance of the Notification of Failure to Meet Requirements.
For the Flow Chart of the Application for Registration by Overseas Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials, please refer to Annex 3.
Chapter 4 Follow-up Administration
Article 12
The registration certificate will be valid for 3 years. Where renewal is demanded on its expiry, the applicant shall apply to AQSIQ for renewal three months before the registration certificate expires.
When changes in the registration information of overseas enterprises occur (e.g. legal person, address), procedures for modifications should be accomplished with AQSIQ within 3 months.
Article 13
When any of the following circumstances occurs in relation to the registered overseas enterprises, AQSIQ may suspend the inspection application or even to the extent revoke the registration qualifications of registered overseas enterprises. AQSIQ will not accept the application for registration from the overseas enterprises whose registration qualification has been revoked by AQSIQ within 3 years.
a) Breach of the relevant laws and regulations and applicable rules on imported scrap materials of China;
b) Breach of the relevant rules stated in Article 7 of these Rules;
c) When the scrap materials that are not up to the standard concerning safety, hygiene, and environmental protection has been found by the inspection and quarantine authorities at the port of entry, serious consequences thereby caused, and it has been proved that the overseas enterprises should bear the responsibility;
d) Alternation or falsification of relevant documents and certificates, or other forgeries or fraudulent acts;
e) After significant changes in the enterprise’s registration information, no report has been made to AQSIQ on time;
f) The registration certificate or the serial number has been transferred to other enterprises for their use;
g) Breach of other rules and regulations.
Article 14
AQSIQ or the bodies authorized by AQSIQ shall be responsible for the routine supervision and administration of the registered overseas enterprises, and the bodies authorized by AQSIQ shall submit report on their supervision and administration to AQSIQ.
The contents of routine supervision and administration are as follows:
a) To conduct random inspection, regularly or irregularly, on the merchandise exported by the registered overseas enterprises;
b) To check whether or not the registered overseas enterprises has broken the regulations of these Rules;
c) To give the feedback concerning the inspection made by the inspection and quarantine authorities at the port of entry on the merchandise to the registered overseas enterprises in a timely manner;
d) For the circumstance that the registered overseas enterprises has been proved to have broken the regulations stated in Article 13 of these Rules, to suggest AQSIQ to suspend or revoke the registration qualification of the overseas enterprises;
e) To supervise the registered overseas enterprises shipping back the merchandise found not up to standard.
Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions
Article 15
The administration of registration for supplier enterprises of imported scrap materials from the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan region of China may be conducted with reference to these Rules.
Article 16
AQSIQ shall be responsible for the interpretation of these Rules.
Article 17
These Rules shall come into force as of the date of promulgation.
Annexes:
1. Record of Evaluation on Registration of Overseas Supplier Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials
2. Notification of Failure to Meet Requirements
3. Flow Chart of the Application for Registration by Overseas Enterprises of Imported Scrap Materials
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