Decree of The State Council of the People's Republic of China No. 785 (Regulations on the Management of Rare Earth)
Decree of The State Council of the People's Republic of China
Number 785
The Regulations on Rare Earth Management, adopted at the 31st Executive Meeting of The State Council on April 26, 2024, are hereby promulgated and will come into force on October 1, 2024.
Rare earth management regulations
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated in accordance with relevant laws for the purpose of effectively protecting and rationally developing and utilizing rare earth resources, promoting the high-quality development of the rare earth industry, maintaining ecological security, and safeguarding national resource security and industrial security.
Article 2 These Regulations shall apply to the mining, smelting and separation of rare earths, metal smelting, comprehensive utilization, product circulation, import and export and other activities within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
Article 3 Rare earth management shall implement the lines, principles, policies, decisions and arrangements of the Party and the State, adhere to the protection of resources and development and utilization, and follow the principles of overall planning, security, scientific and technological innovation, and green development.
Article 4 Rare earth resources belong to the State. No organization or individual may seize or destroy rare earth resources.
The State strengthens the protection of rare earth resources in accordance with law, and implements protective mining of rare earth resources.
Article 5 The State shall implement a unified plan for the development of the rare earth industry. The competent department of industry and information technology under The State Council shall, in conjunction with relevant departments under The State Council, formulate and implement the development plan for the rare earth industry according to law.
Article 6 The State encourages and supports the research, development and application of new technologies, new processes, new products, new materials and new equipment in the rare earth industry, continuously improves the level of development and utilization of rare earth resources, and promotes the high-end, intelligent and green development of the rare earth industry.
Article 7 The competent department of industry and information technology under The State Council shall be responsible for the administration of the rare earth industry throughout the country, and shall study, formulate and organize the implementation of policies and measures for the administration of the rare earth industry. The competent department of natural resources under The State Council and other relevant departments shall be responsible for the management of rare earth within the scope of their respective duties.
Local people's governments at or above the county level shall be responsible for the administration of rare earth in their respective areas. The competent departments of industry, information technology and natural resources of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall do a good job of rare earth management in accordance with the division of responsibilities.
Article 8 The competent department of industry and information technology under The State Council shall, in conjunction with the relevant departments under The State Council, determine the rare earth mining enterprises and the rare earth smelting and separation enterprises and announce them to the public.
With the exception of the enterprises identified in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, no other organizations or individuals may engage in rare earth mining and smelting and separation.
Article 9 Rare earth mining enterprises shall obtain mining rights and mining licenses in accordance with the laws on mineral resources management, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the State.
Investment in rare earth mining, smelting and separation projects shall comply with the laws, administrative regulations and relevant provisions of the State on the management of investment projects.
Article 10 The State, in light of such factors as the difference in reserves and types of rare earth resources, industrial development, ecological protection and market demand, shall exercise total control over rare earth mining and smelting and separation, and optimize dynamic management. The specific measures shall be formulated by the competent department of industry and information technology under The State Council in conjunction with the departments of natural resources, development and reform under The State Council.
Rare earth mining enterprises and rare earth smelting and separation enterprises shall strictly abide by the relevant State regulations on total volume control and management.
Article 11 The State encourages and supports enterprises to make comprehensive utilization of secondary rare earth resources by using advanced and applicable technologies and processes.
Enterprises engaged in comprehensive utilization of rare earth shall not engage in production activities with rare earth mineral products as raw materials.
Article 12 Enterprises engaged in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting and comprehensive utilization shall abide by the laws and regulations concerning mineral resources, energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production, production safety and fire control, and take reasonable measures for environmental risk prevention, ecological protection, pollution prevention and safety protection, so as to effectively prevent environmental pollution and production safety accidents.
Article 13 No organization or individual may purchase, process, sell or export rare earth products illegally mined or smelted and separated.
Article 14 The competent department of industry and information technology under The State Council shall, together with the departments of natural resources, commerce, customs and taxation under The State Council, establish a traceability information system for rare earth products, strengthen traceability management of the whole process of rare earth products, and promote data sharing among relevant departments.
Enterprises engaged in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting, comprehensive utilization and export of rare earth products shall establish a record system for the flow of rare earth products, truthfully record the flow of rare earth products and enter the rare earth product traceability information system.
Article 15 The import and export of rare earth products and related technologies, processes and equipment shall comply with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations on foreign trade and import and export administration. Items under export control shall also comply with the provisions of laws and administrative regulations on export control.
Article 16 The State shall improve the rare earth reserve system in accordance with the combination of physical reserves and reserves in mineral producing areas.
The physical reserve of rare earth shall be combined with government reserve and enterprise reserve, and the structure and quantity of reserve varieties shall be continuously optimized. Specific measures shall be formulated by the development and reform department and the finance department of The State Council in conjunction with the competent department of industry and information technology and the department of food and materials reserve.
The competent department of natural resources under The State Council, in conjunction with relevant departments under The State Council, shall, in accordance with the needs of ensuring the security of rare earth resources and taking into account such factors as the reserves, distribution and importance of the resources, delimit the reserve areas of rare earth resources and strengthen supervision and protection according to law. Specific measures shall be formulated by the department in charge of natural resources under The State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under The State Council.
Article 17 Rare earth industry organizations shall establish and improve industry norms, strengthen self-discipline management of the industry, guide enterprises to abide by the law, operate with integrity, and promote fair competition.
Article 18 The competent departments of industry and information technology and other relevant departments (hereinafter referred to as the supervision and inspection departments) shall, in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations and the provisions of these Regulations, supervise and inspect the mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting, comprehensive utilization, product circulation, import and export activities of rare earth in accordance with the division of duties, and deal with illegal acts in a timely manner according to law.
Supervision and inspection departments shall have the right to take the following measures when conducting supervision and inspection:
(1) require the units under inspection to provide relevant documents and materials;
(2) To question the units under inspection and their relevant personnel and ask them to explain the information related to the matters under supervision and inspection;
(3) entering places suspected of illegal activities for investigation and evidence collection;
(4) Detain rare earth products, tools and equipment related to illegal activities, and seal up places for illegal activities;
(5) Other measures prescribed by laws and administrative regulations.
The units under inspection and their relevant personnel shall cooperate, truthfully provide relevant documents and materials, and may not refuse or obstruct them.
Article 19 A supervision and inspection department shall conduct supervision and inspection with at least two persons, and shall present valid administrative law enforcement certificates.
The staff members of the supervision and inspection departments shall have the obligation to keep confidential the state secrets, commercial secrets and personal information they are informed of in the course of supervision and inspection.
Article 20 Whoever commits any of the following acts in violation of the provisions of these Regulations shall be punished by the competent department of natural resources according to law:
(1) The rare earth mining enterprise has not obtained the mining right or mining license to exploit rare earth resources, or has exploited rare earth resources beyond the mining area registered with the mining right;
(2) Organizations or individuals other than rare earth mining enterprises engage in rare earth mining.
Article 21 Where rare earth mining enterprises or rare earth smelting and separation enterprises engage in rare earth mining, smelting and separation in violation of the regulations on total volume control and control, the competent departments of natural resources, industry and information technology shall order them to make corrections according to their respective duties, confiscate the illegal production of rare earth products and their illegal income, and impose a fine of not less than 5 times but not more than 10 times the illegal income; If there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 500,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 1 million yuan but not more than 5 million yuan shall also be imposed; If the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business operations, and the principal responsible person, the person directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be given sanctions according to law.
Article 22 In violation of the provisions of these Regulations, any of the following acts shall be ordered by the competent department of industry and information technology to stop the illegal acts, confiscate the illegal production of rare earth products and illegal income and the tools and equipment directly used in illegal activities, and concurrently impose a fine of not less than 5 times but not more than 10 times the illegal income; If there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 500,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 2 million yuan but not more than 5 million yuan shall also be imposed; If the circumstances are serious, the market supervision and administration department shall revoke its business license:
(1) Organizations and individuals other than rare earth smelting and separation enterprises engaged in smelting and separation;
(2) Rare earth comprehensive utilization enterprises engage in production activities with rare earth mineral products as raw materials.
Article 23 Whoever, in violation of the provisions of these Regulations, purchases, processes or sells rare earth products illegally mined or smelted or separated shall be ordered by the competent department of industry and information technology, together with other relevant departments, to stop the illegal act, and confiscate the illegally purchased, processed or sold rare earth products and the illegal income, as well as the tools and equipment directly used in the illegal activities. Shall concurrently be fined not less than 5 times but not more than 10 times the illegal income; If there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 500,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 500,000 yuan but not more than 2 million yuan shall also be imposed; If the circumstances are serious, the market supervision and administration department shall revoke its business license.
Article 24 Whoever imports and exports rare earth products and related technologies, processes and equipment in violation of relevant laws, administrative regulations and the provisions of these Regulations shall be punished by the competent department of commerce, customs and other relevant departments according to their duties and duties.
Article 25 Where an enterprise engaged in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting, comprehensive utilization and export of rare earth products fails to truthfully record the information on the flow direction of rare earth products and enter it into the rare earth product traceability information system, the competent department of industry and information technology and other relevant departments shall, in accordance with the division of responsibilities, order the enterprise to make corrections and impose a fine of not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan on the enterprise; If the enterprise refuses to make corrections, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business operations, and shall be imposed a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan on the principal responsible person, the persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible, and a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan and not more than 1 million yuan on the enterprise.
Article 26 Where a supervision and inspection department refuses or obstructs it from performing its duties of supervision and inspection according to law, the supervision and inspection department shall order it to make corrections, give a warning to the principal responsible persons, the persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible, and impose a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan on the enterprise; If the enterprise refuses to make corrections, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business operations, and shall be imposed a fine of not less than 20,000 yuan but not more than 50,000 yuan on the principal responsible person, the persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible, and a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan and not more than 500,000 yuan on the enterprise.
Article 27 Enterprises engaged in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting and comprehensive utilization that violate laws and regulations on energy conservation and environmental protection, clean production, production safety and fire control shall be punished by relevant departments in accordance with their duties and duties.
The violations of laws and regulations of enterprises engaged in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, metal smelting, comprehensive utilization and import and export of rare earth products shall be recorded in credit records by relevant departments according to law and incorporated into the relevant national credit information system.
Article 28 Any staff member of the supervision and inspection department who abuses his power, neglects his duty or engages in malpractices for personal gain in the management of rare earth shall be punished according to law.
Article 29 Whoever violates the provisions of these Regulations and constitutes an act violating the administration of public security shall be punished for the administration of public security according to law; If the case constitutes a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.
Article 30 The meanings of the following terms in these Regulations:
Rare earth refers to the general name of lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, proium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, scandium, yttrium and other elements.
Smelting and separation refers to the production process of processing rare earth minerals into various single or mixed rare earth oxides, salts and other compounds.
Metal smelting refers to the process of producing rare earth metals or alloys from single or mixed rare earth oxides, salts and other compounds.
Rare earth secondary resources refer to solid waste that can be processed to make the rare earth elements contained in it valuable again, including but not limited to rare earth permanent magnet waste, waste permanent magnets and other rare earth containing waste.
Rare earth products, including rare earth minerals, all kinds of rare earth compounds, all kinds of rare earth metals and alloys.
Article 31 With regard to the control of rare metals other than rare earths, the relevant competent departments of The State Council may refer to the relevant provisions of these Regulations.
Article 32 These Regulations shall come into force as of October 1, 2024.
Source: Central Government of the People's Republic of China
