Stabilize export expectations with clear procedures and continue to improve export control effectiveness

China News Service, Beijing, October 20. On October 19, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement on "Relevant Matters on Further Optimizing the Questioning and Identification of Export Control of Dual-Use Items." The announcement clearly states the legal basis at the beginning and strictly follows the "Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China", "Customs Law of the People's Republic of China", "Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Export Control of Dual-Use Items" and other relevant laws and regulations, demonstrating the legal background of administration in accordance with the law and implementation of export control in accordance with the law. As a continuation and improvement measure of the General Administration of Customs Announcement No. 123 of 2025, this system optimization adheres to the overall coordination of development and security. On the basis of establishing a solid bottom line of national security, it focuses on the concerns of enterprises, improves the questioning and identification procedures, clarifies the processing time limit, and innovates the classification and disposal mechanism. It is an important institutional practice for my country to promote high-level export control.

1. Clarify the rigid processing time limit and stabilize enterprises’ export expectations with clear procedures

The core institutional breakthrough of this announcement is to set a rigid time limit for the customs questioning and item identification process. The announcement clarifies that the customs will complete the inquiry or submit an organizational identification to the Ministry of Commerce within 15 working days from the date of receipt of all materials provided by the consignor of the goods, and the Ministry of Commerce will make an identification conclusion within 15 working days from the date of receipt of complete materials for organizational identification. The time limits and rights and responsibilities of each link are clear, establishing a complete closed loop of item questioning and identification, and forming a predictable regulatory operation mechanism.

Under a regulatory model that does not set clear time limits, after goods enter the questioning and identification process, it is difficult for companies to predict the time for issuing conclusions. Export order fulfillment arrangements, industrial chain supporting connections, and capital turnover plans may also be affected. This announcement directly addresses the urgent needs and worries of market entities, clarifies the processing time limit, allows enterprises to have a clear understanding of the export process, effectively reduces the uncertainty of foreign trade transactions, and fully embodies the value orientation of supervision for the people and serving the real economy.

Looking at the practice of global export control governance, the time limit rules announced by most countries in the world are mainly applicable to the pre-examination and approval process of export licenses. It is relatively rare to specifically set up unified rigid time limits for questioning, identification and other in-process regulatory screening procedures. The United States and other Western countries are also lacking in this regard. Although relevant laws and regulations in the United States set reference time limits for license approval, relevant surveys show that the actual waiting period of a large number of companies far exceeds the legal standard; the rules of EU member states are fragmented, and time limit standards are even more uneven. Relevant government departments in my country have the courage to face up to item identification, a supervisory link that is generally considered difficult to standardize, and proactively set rigid time limits to not only maintain the bottom line of control safety, but also protect the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises, and find a new path that balances safety and efficiency in the practice of global export control governance.

2. Innovate the split disposal mechanism to reduce compliance costs through precise supervision

Another important institutional innovation in this announcement is the establishment of a splitting and disposal mechanism for goods under the same customs declaration form. According to the new regulations, enterprises can apply for split processing of compliant goods that are not related to the questioned items in the same customs declaration, and handle customs clearance procedures separately after customs assessment and approval. This system design solves the previous regulatory problem of "one order is suspicious and the entire order is detained", enables control and verification to accurately focus on suspicious goods, and minimizes the incidental impact on customs clearance of compliant goods.

High-level export control focuses on precise policy implementation. In past practice, if a small amount of goods in a customs declaration triggered control doubts, customs clearance of the entire shipment was often suspended simultaneously. The passive detention of some goods that are fully compliant and have nothing to do with regulatory risks not only increases the pressure on enterprises to perform their contracts, but is also detrimental to the stable operation of the industrial and supply chains. The split disposal mechanism adheres to the risk orientation, achieves focused inspection of suspicious goods, and rapid release of compliant goods. On the premise of strictly adhering to the safety defense line for the export of dual-use items, it maximizes the protection of the rights and interests of law-abiding enterprises, protects the interests of my country's real industries going overseas, and vividly interprets the modern regulatory logic of "control and release well".

3. Continue to iterate the institutional system and contribute to global public goods through governance modernization

From the issuance of Announcement No. 123 of 2025 to the release of this announcement, it took less than a year and a half for my country’s rules for questioning and identification of dual-use items to be iteratively improved. This progressive reform process fully reflects the determination of the relevant competent authorities to adhere to a problem-oriented approach, continue to listen to the voices of the industry, respond to the demands of enterprises, and continuously promote the modernization of the export control governance system and governance capabilities. The construction of the export control system is not achieved overnight, but is based on my country's development reality, problems are discovered in practice, rules are improved, and steady progress is made in the relationship between dynamically balanced development and security.

Export control is a national security governance method commonly used by the international community. However, due to differences in development stages and governance concepts in different countries, the implementation effects of the system vary greatly. The regulatory processes related to export control in some countries are highly flexible and lack stable expectations for the processing cycle. Market entities need to bear higher time and compliance costs. Based on the national conditions of developing countries, my country continues to optimize control procedures and build a new export control model that takes into account national security, industrial interests and enterprise convenience with institutional arrangements of rigid time limits, classified disposal, and rule of law. At the same time, as a member of the Global South, my country has abandoned the all-or-nothing regulatory thinking in the practice of export control governance, provided a practical sample for developing countries to build an export control system adapted to their own national conditions, and contributed Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions to improve global export control governance.

Currently, the global industrial and supply chains are facing in-depth adjustments, and foreign trade companies' demand for policy clarity and export stability continues to rise. Export control of dual-use items is closely related to national security and high-level opening up to the outside world. The implementation of this announcement will further streamline the questioning and identification work process, consolidate the time limit responsibilities of each link, and continue to stabilize the expectations of foreign trade entities. Facing the future, we should continue to implement the announcement, strengthen policy publicity and corporate compliance guidance, and continuously improve regulatory accuracy and service efficiency.

(Author Cui Weijie, deputy director and researcher of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce)