WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/C/W/569 
17 November 2006 
 
 (06-5566) 
Council for Trade in Goods Original:   English 
  
TRANSITIONAL REVIEW MECHANISM PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH 18  
OF THE PROTOCOL ON THE ACCESSION OF THE  
PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA ("CHINA")  
 
Information Required in Annex 1A
 
 
 
 The following communication, dated 16 November 2006, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of the People's Republic of China.  
_______________ 
 
 
II. ECONOMIC POLICIES  
2.1  Non-Discrimination 
 (a) the repeal and cessation of all WTO inconsiste nt laws, regulations and other measures 
on national treatment. 
 
During 5 years after accession, China has been  engaged in enacting, amending and abolishing 
trade-related laws, regulations a nd administrative measures, which are now in consistency with WTO 
national treatment, including those discussed in China’s accession negotiations. The national treatment principle is now well observed in the legislation of China relating to trade 
 
(b) the repeal or modification to provide full GA TT national treatment in respect of laws, 
regulations and other measures applying to in ternal sale, offering for sale, purchase, 
transportation, distribution or use of: a fter sale service, pharmaceutical products, 
cigarettes, spirits, chemicals and boil er and pressure vessels (for pharmaceutical 
products, chemicals and spirits there is a reser vation of the right to use a transitional 
period of one year from the date of accessi on in order to amend or repeal relevant 
legislation) 
 
 The repeal or modification in respect of the administrative measures relating to after sale 
service, pharmaceutical products, cigarettes, chem icals, boiler and pressure vessels products and 
spirits, in which full WTO national treatment was embodied, were submitted to Council for Trade in 
Goods in the Annex 1A information of the past  two years. No changes were made in 2006. 
   G/C/W/569 
Page 2  
 
  IV.  POLICIES AFFECTING TRADE IN GOODS 
 
4.5  Export Restrictions  
(a)   any restrictions on exports through non-au tomatic licensing or other means justified by 
specific product under the WTO Agreement or the Protocol.  
  
 China maintains export administration of a small number of products for the purposes of 
protecting public interest, conserving the exhaustib le natural resources, or undertaking obligations 
under international treaties. This is in  conformity to Article XX of GATT1994. 
 
 In 2005, commodities subject to export administ ration include: live cattle, live swine, fowls, 
beef, pork, chicken meat, wheat, maize, rice, cott on, liquorice and its produc ts, Chinese iris and its 
products, bauxite, light (dead) burned magnesium, talc lump (powder), fluorspar lump (powder), rare 
earth, coal, coke, crude oil, processed oil, paraffin wax, tungsten and its pro ducts , silicon carbide, 
sawn timber, silver, platinum (through processing trade only), zinc and zinc alloy, tin and tin alloy, 
antimony and antimony products, motorcycle and motorc ycle engine, electric fan, bicycle, computers, 
substances depleting oz onosphere, chemicals under supervision and control, chemicals used for 
narcotics production. Many of the products lis ted above obtain export licensing automatically. 
Besides, China also maintains export prohibition on the following products: horn-cores and tiger 
bones, bezoars, musk, certain chem icals used for narcotics production,  certain substances depleting 
ozonosphere, wood, wood charcoal, and platinum. Ch ina will in a couple of days time submit to WTO 
an updating notification of quantitative restricti ons of the year 2006, which will reflect detailed 
information on these export administrative measures,  including quota volume (if applicable).  
 
4.9  State Trading Entities 
 (a) progressive abolishment of state trading in respect of silk measures, increasing and 
extending trading rights, granting the right to  trade to all individuals no later than 1 
January 2005 
 
 Introductions on progressive abolishment of state trading in respect of silk measures, 
increasing and extending trading rights were s ubmitted to Council for Trade in Goods in the 
Annex 1A information of the past two years. No changes were made in 2006. 
 
(b) access to supplies of raw materials in the te xtiles sector at conditions no less favorable 
than for domestic users, and not adversely aff ected access to supplies of raw materials as 
enjoyed under existing arrangements  
 
 Access to supplies of raw materials in textile  sector for foreign users remains at the same 
conditions as for domestic users, and have not been adversely affected in this area.  
 (c) progressive increases in access by non state tr ading entities to trade in fertilizer and oil 
and the filling of quantities available for import by non state trading entities  
  
 After WTO accession, China implemented a registration system for non-state trading 
enterprises for importation of crude oil, processed oil and chemical fertiliz ers for the purpose of  G/C/W/569 
 Page 3 
 
 
  expanding the market access for non-state tradi ng enterprises of these products. On 21 December 
2005, MOFCOM further issued Announcement No. 98 of 2005, publishing the 6th batch of non-state 
trading enterprises for importation of crude oil and pr ocessed oil.  Compared w ith the situation at the 
time of China’s accession, the number of non-state trading enterprises for importation of crude oil, 
processed oil and chemical fertilizers has increased substantially.  
 
 From 2003 to 2006, the volume permitted for importation of crude oil non-state trading 
enterprise was respectively 9,520,000 tons, 10,950, 000 tons, 12,600,000 tons and 14,500,000 tons. 
The volume permitted for importation of processed o il non-state trading enterprise was respectively 
5,300,000 tons, 6,100,000 tons, 7,000,000 tons an d 8,050,000 tons. TRQ volume for importation of 
chemical fertilizers by non-state trading enterp rise was respectively, 180,000 tons, 230,000 tons, 
280,000 tons and 330,000 tons for urea, 1,190,000 to ns, 1,560,000 tons, 1,970,000 tons and 2,410,000 
tons for DAP while 600,000 tons, 780,000 tons , 990,000 tons and 121,000 tons for NPK.   
 
According to MOFCOM Announcement No.78 of  2006, the volume permitted for importation 
of crude oil in 2007 by non-state trading enterprise is 16,680,000 tons. The volume available for 
importation of these products by non-state trading enterprises has been on a constant increase.  2006 
symbolizes the end of increase in TRQ quantity for chemical fertilizer import by non state-trading 
enterprises.  Therefore, quantity of TRQ for chemical  fertilizer import by non state-trading enterprises 
in 2006 and 2007 is the same.  
 
 From 2003 to 2006, the volume permitted for importation of crude oil, processed oil and 
chemical fertilizers by non-state trading enterprises were fully allocated. However, as holders of the 
volume permitted for importation by non-state trading enterprises may also consign state trading enterprises to import, it is technically not feasible at this stage for the Cu stoms authorities to have 
statistics of the imports of the non-state trading enterprises and therefore the import performance by 
non-state trading enterprises is difficult to be confirmed with Customs statistics.  
4.10  Government Procurement 
 (a) Laws, regulations and procedures 
 
 Regarding government procurement, Law of the People’s Republic of China on Government 
Procurement  took effect on 1 January 2003, and the drafti ng of implementing regulations of the law is 
under way. There have been no other changes in 2006.  
 (b) Procurement in a transparent manner and application   
  
 To ensure the transparency in government procurement, the competent authorities of the 
Chinese Government has taken series of measures as follows: 
 
 1. The scope of information on government  procurement to be published is expanded. 
At present, information on laws, regulations  and administrative measures relating to 
government procurement, procurement opportunities, results of the contract award and 
advance examination on qualification of suppliers etc should be published in the government 
procurement website of China ( www.ccpg.gov.cn)
, China Financial and Economic News  and 
China Government Procurement magazine, which are designated by the Chinese government. G/C/W/569 
Page 4  
 
   
 2. All the procurement projects open to fore ign suppliers are require d to be implemented 
through tendering to provide foreign su ppliers with equal opportunities.  
 
 3. In the process of drafting regulations and administrative measures, public opinions 
and comments on the drafts are required to be solicited 
 
__________