Summary: In early May 2023, the General Administration of Customs issued the Rules of the Inspection of Import and Export Fertilisers (SN/T 5063-2023), which is expected to take effect as of 1 Dec., 2023.

On 5 May, 2023, the General Administration of Customs issued the Rules of the Inspection of Import and Export Fertilisers (SN/T 5063-2023), which is predicted to come into force from 1 Dec., 2023. This is the first technical specification stipulating the inspection procedures for fertiliser export issued by China Commodity Inspection Bureau.

China has continued to carry out legal inspections on fertiliser export in recent years:

• On 22 Sept., 2021, 13 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Administration of Customs proposed in the Notice on Ensuring Stable Supplies and Prices of Domestic Fertilisers for Some Time that in response to quality issues related to fertiliser export, local customs should strictly implement statutory inspection of exported fertilisers in accordance with the latest regulations.
• Since 15 Oct., 2021, the General Administration of Customs added 29 10 digit customs commodity codes as export statutory inspection goods. When interpreting the policy, the Commodity Inspection Department of the General Administration of Customs pointed out that the import and export commodity inspection departments of various customs should conduct inspections in accordance with the mandatory requirements of national technical specifications; mandatory requirements include but are not limited to: Fertiliser Marking-Presentation and Declaration (GB 18382), Limitation Requirements of Toxic and Harmful Substance in Fertilisers (GB 38400), and Limit Standard for 226Ra in Phosphate Fertiliser and its Compound Fertiliser (GB 8921).
• On 9 Feb., 2023, 14 departments including the National Development and Reform Commission and the General Administration of Customs mentioned in the Notice on Ensuring Stable Supplies and Prices of Fertilisers for Spring Ploughing in 2023 that all directly affiliated customs should continue to implement the fertiliser import and export inspection system to ensure the quality of imported and exported fertilisers.

 

The Rules of the Inspection of Import and Export Fertilisers applies to all fertilisers subject to statutory inspections, and it provides a unified national qualification assessment technical standard for customs import and export commodity inspection agencies to better supervise the quality of China's exported fertilisers, and also offers technical support for differentiated and precise supervision of exported fertilisers by category. Based on national standardization laws and regulations, the Inspection Rules for Import Fertiliser (SN/T 2937-2011) will be no longer valid after the Rules of the Inspection of Import and Export Fertilisers (SN/T 5063-2023) is officially implemented. More details of this new document will be released by the General Administration of Customs in the future.