. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/CHN/336 
20 February 2008 
 (08-0744) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   CHINA
 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):         
2. Agency responsible:   General Administration of Qua lity Supervision, Inspection and 
Quarantine(AQSIQ) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers, e-mail and web-site 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:         
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [  X ], 2.10.1 [   ], 5.6.2 [   ], 5.7.1 [   ], other:         
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applicable, otherwise national tariff heading.
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Uncombed cotton 
HS:  5201000010; 5201000090 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:   AQSIQ Notice on 
Implementing the Administrative Measures on Registration of Overseas Supplying 
Enterprises Exporting Cotton to China (No. XX, 2008) (3 pages, in Chinese).  
6. Description of content:   This notice specifies the administrative measures on registration 
of overseas supplying enterprises exporting cotton to the mainland of China. No cotton exported from the supplying enterprises shall be  permitted to enter into the mainland of 
China without such registration. The register ed supplying enterprises are subject to the 
administration of quality credit evaluation. Th ere’s no charge for the relevant registration 
from overseas supplying enterprises. 
7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
China is the biggest country of cotton productio n and consumption. It imports more than 3 
million tons of cotton each year, and the total value exceeds 4 billion U.S. dollars. Whereas, 
inferior quality of some imported cotton has b een a problem for quite a long time. Problems 
such as plant diseases and insect p ests, hazardous substances, very poor quality, short of 
weight, using tinpot cotton to replace good one , as well as adulteration and sophistication, 
etc. are rather severe. The disqualification rate  of inspection lot is over 70 percent.  This 
administrative measure is aimed at preventing inferior quality cotton from entering into the 
mainland of China, putting to an end of the d eceptive practices and protecting the legitimate 
interests of honest enterprises. 
8. Relevant documents:   This notice will be published on AQSIQ Website
(www. aqsiq.gov.cn) when adopted. G/TBT/N/CHN/336 
Page 2  
 
  9. Proposed date of adoption:   
Proposed date of entry into force:   }May 2008 
10. Final date for comments:   30 March 2008 
11. Texts available from:  National enquiry point [  X ] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers, e-mail and web-site addresses, if available of the other body:   
WTO/TBT National Notification and Enquiry Center of the People’s Republic of China 
Tel: (+86) 10 8226 0618 Fax:  (+86) 10 8226 2448 
Email: tbt@aqsiq.gov.cn 
http://members.wto.org/crnatt achments/2008/tbt/chn/08_0513_00_x.pdf