Renewing AQSIQ Licenses: What You Need to Know

A batch of ReMA members’ licenses for scrap exports to China will expire before the end of the year, and we wanted to be sure you have the proper guidance for renewal.  These licenses were once known as “AQSIQ licenses,” but the agency once responsible for them – the General Administration of Quality, Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) – was dissolved last year and its functions taken over by the General Administration of Customs. Nevertheless, for simplicity, we continue to refer to them as “AQSIQ licenses.”

In addition to there being a new oversight authority, these licenses will need to be renewed within the shadow of China’s new scrap import regulations. For that reason, we expect that applications not only could be reviewed with extra scrutiny but also as if they are new applications. We conclude this because in revising the export license guidance to align with China’s government reorganization and the import regulations, several small linguistic modifications to the regulation are interpreted as no longer recognizing grandfathered licenses that were issued before the Chinese Government required exporters to be ISO or RIOS certified. Therefore, “extending the expiry date” of an existing license (i.e., renewal) must now require that exporters have one of these certifications. The references to this requirement from the 2018 Implementation Rules Governing the Registration of Foreign Suppliers are as follows:

                Chapter 3 – Alteration, Reapplication and Extension

Article 17:  To extend expiry date of the registration, the Supplier shall, within 90 days before the expiry date of the registration, file an application for extension with the General Administration of Customs, and shall follow the provisions under Article 6 of the Implementation Rules.  If the Supplier fails to file an application for extension within the prescribed period, the General Administration of Customs may decide such application does not confirm to the legal conditions applicable to the extension of registration, and therefor shall be rejected. The registration will be invalid automatically upon the expiration of the Certificate.

                Chapter 2 – Acceptance, Review and Approval

Article 6: The applicant shall make the registration application through an Imported Goods Inspection and Quarantine Regulatory System, and shall submit to the General Administration of Customs of the following material sin writing within 30 days after the successful online submission of the registration application:

1. Application form for registration formulated and printed through the aforesaid application system (see also Appendix 1);
2. Notarized tax registration certificate, and also notarized business registration certificate if the applicant holds such business registration certificate;
3. Descriptions of organizational structures, departments and job responsibilities;
4. A floor plan of the permanent office in which dimensions are indicated there upon, and a floor plan of the processing factory, if the applicant owns a processing factory, together with at least three pictures that fully presents the real scenes of the aforesaid office and factory site;
5. Color photocopy of certificates such as ISO9001 Quality Management System or RIOS;
6. When engaging an agent to file the registration application, the applicant shall produce the original copy of the power of attorney and the photocopies of the identification proof of both the principal and the agent.

All the written materials to be submitted shall be made in Chinese or in both Chinese and foreign languages.

Furthermore, we recommend that the renewal application be submitted as early in the requested 90 day window as possible – and as all the documents are required to be in Chinese, it is recommended you begin your internal process at least three months before. 

We will be glad to provide any assistance to obtain RIOS Certification or ISO.

Documents referenced in the Implementation Rules that should accompany applications are:

   Application Form (“Appendix 1” noted in Article 6.1)

On-site Inspection Record (“Appendix 3” noted in Article 21.2)

Additional reference documents noted in the Implementation Rules are:

Sample of an Issued Certificate (“Appendix 2” noted in Article 10 – just for reference)

Flowchart for Application Approvals (“Appendix 4” noted in Article 27)