CHINA: An Introduction to International Trade: Customs, Export Controls & Economic Sanctions (PRC Firms)

出口管制与经济制裁领域的热点话题及企业应关注的风险点

Export Controls and Economic Sanctions’ Trending Topics and Risks for Enterprises

近年来，以美国、欧盟等为代表的主要发达国家和地区在出口管制和经济制裁领域不断调整相关政策法规并强化相关执法力度，尤其是在以半导体、新能源、生物医药等为代表的高科技领域，给包括中国企业在内的相关企业的合规管理和可持续发展带来了很大挑战，也给一些特殊的企业和个人带来诸多风险。

In recent years, major developed countries and regions, represented by the US and the European Union, have been adjusting relevant policies and regulations as well as strengthening law enforcement in the field of export controls and economic sanctions, especially in high-tech industries such as semiconductors, new energy and biomedicine. Accordingly, the measures have brought greater challenges in compliance management and sustainable development for many enterprises, including Chinese enterprises. In addition, these measures have brought many risks to certain enterprises and individuals. 

什么是出口管制

What are “Export Controls”?

通常表现为一国的政府管制机构根据国家法律法规和政策对本国特定货物或技术等的出口和境外转移等行为，通过实体“黑名单”、管制物项清单、许可证制度、国别清单等进行管控，旨在保障国家安全和利益、防止大规模杀伤性武器扩散、应对国际恐怖主义以及维护世界和平等。

Export controls are usually applied by a country’s government in accordance with national laws, regulations and policies with respect to specific goods and technologies, to control exports, transfers overseas and other activities, to protect national security and interests, prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, confront international terrorism, and safeguard world peace. Export controls can be implemented by governments through measures such as blacklists of entities, Commerce Control Lists, Restrictive Licence, and Commerce Country Charts.

什么是经济制裁？

What are “Economic Sanctions”?

通常表现为一国政府为了外交和安全政策的目的而取消惯常的贸易和金融关系，常见的有贸易禁运、拒绝提供贷款、投资或援助、冻结财产或禁止交易等措施。以美国制裁为例，其制裁可分为针对特定国家的全面制裁，针对的是整个国家的商业活动，还包括针对特殊行业、企业或个人的制裁等类型；而从企业评估和防范风险的角度，除了关注禁止美国人或与美国存在连接点的非美国人与受制裁对象进行交易的一级制裁外，还应关注禁止“不存在美国连接点”的实体或个人与受制裁对象进行交易的二级制裁。

Economic sanctions are manifested as a country’s government cancelling regular trade and financial relations for the purpose of consolidating foreign and security policy, usually through a variety of measures such as trade embargo, limited access to loans, investment or aid, freezing properties or prohibiting transactions. For example, the US economic sanctions can be divided into comprehensive sanctions targeting most commercial activities of particular countries, sanctions targeting specific industries in certain countries, and sanctions targeting specific enterprises or individuals. From the perspective of corporate risk assessment and prevention, enterprises should pay attention to primary and secondary sanctions set by the US for persons conducting transactions with sanctioned parties, as primary sanctions prohibit US persons or non-US persons who have a nexus with the US for conducting such transactions, whereas secondary sanctions prohibit any entity or individual who "does not have a US nexus" from conducting such transactions.

除了各国政府实施的单边出口管制和经济制裁以外，相关措施也可由联合国、欧盟或其他国际组织以及和瓦森纳协定等多边机制加以实施，形成协同和扩大化的效果。出口管制和经济制裁制度对维护国家安全、地区稳定、推行对外政策等方面发挥着重要作用，但与此同时也会对企业主体之间的国际贸易、跨境并购/投融资、经济技术合作，以及企业主体自身的公司治理等产生重大而深远的影响。

In addition to unilateral export controls and economic sanctions imposed by national governments, similar measures could also be imposed by international organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, and multilateral institutions such as the Wassenaar Arrangement, which create synergistic and amplified effects. Export controls and economic sanctions are playing an important role in safeguarding national security and regional stability, promoting foreign policies, among other aspects. Furthermore, these controls and sanctions have significant and far-reaching impacts on international trade, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investment and financing, and economic and technological cooperation among business entities, as well as the corporate governance of enterprises themselves.

以美国为例，近年来，美国不断调整其在出口管制和经济制裁领域的法律法规，并持续加大执法力度。在出口管制领域，从宏观来看，美国的出口管制管理从传统的军事用品和军民两用物项，逐渐拓展到具有技术领先优势和国际竞争优势的高新技术产品等物项；具体来看，无论是美国《出口管理条例》修订“军事最终用户”的定义，还是扩大实体清单等“黑名单”企业数量，新增“超算最终用途”限制、扩大“外国直接产品规则”等内容，都对相关企业产生了巨大影响。从经济制裁角度来看，尤其是俄乌冲突爆发之后，美国针对俄罗斯先后颁发了多个行政令和配套指令，并与盟友协同实施了一系列广泛的制裁，对俄罗斯国民经济至关重要的领域，包括但不限于国防、能源、金融、贸易、电信、运输等发动了一系列的经济制裁措施，需要原本与俄罗斯有业务往来的相关企业予以充分的关注和重视。

Taking the US as an example, in recent years the US has been constantly adjusting its laws and regulations in the fields of export control and economic sanctions, and has continued to strengthen law enforcement. In the field of export control, from a macro perspective, the US administration of export control has been gradually extended from traditional military items and dual-use items to high-tech items with leading technologies and international competitive advantages. Specifically, each time the US amended the US Export Administration Regulations, like the amendment to the definition of "military end users", the expansion of the number of blacklisted companies in the Entity List and other forms of blacklists, new restrictions on "supercomputer end-use", and the expansion of the "Foreign Direct Product Rule", it has had a significant impact on the relevant enterprises. From the perspective of economic sanctions, especially after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US has issued a number of executive orders and supporting directives against Russia and implemented a wide range of sanctions in concert with its allies, launching a series of economic sanctions against areas of vital importance to the Russian national economy, including but not limited to defence, energy, finance, trade, telecommunications and transportation, which require the full attention of enterprises having business activities with Russia.

中国出口管制制度的建立与发展

Establishment and Development of China's Export Control System

从1984年加入国际多边出口管制机构——国际原子能机构起，中国一直积极履行不扩散核武器等防扩散要求，并于20世纪90年代初，在中国原对外贸易经济合作部（现商务部）科技司成立专门处室，开始具体负责两用物项的出口管制管理工作。

Since its accession to the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1984, China has been actively fulfilling its non-proliferation obligations. Moreover, in the early 1990s, the Department of Science and Technology of the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, the “MOFCOM”) established a special division to be directly responsible for export control of dual-use items.

中国的出口管制制度经历了逐步建立和完善的过程，其内容涵盖了军事和两用物项以及核、生、化、导等敏感领域。2020年12月1日，《出口管制法》正式实施，标志着中国在出口管制领域拥有了专门的基本法律，其对中国的出口管制制度予以了高度概括和规制。此后，《不可靠实体清单规定》《阻断外国法律与措施不当域外适用办法》和《反外国制裁法》等部门规章和法律相继出台，充实了中国保护主权、安全和发展利益的“法律工具箱”，而商务部发布的《两用物项出口管制内部合规指南》又在实践领域对企业的出口合规、内控机制、体系建设、跨境交易和合作等方面提出了系统性的指引，也给企业带来了新的要求。

China's export control system has gone through a process of gradual establishment and improvement, covering military and dual-use items, as well as sensitive fields such as nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and missiles. On 1 December 2020 the Export Control Law of the People's Republic of China (“Export Control Law”) was officially promulgated, becoming China’s basic law in the field of export control, highly summarising and regulating China's export control system. Since then, the Provisions on the Unreliable Entity List, Rules on Counteracting Unjustified Extraterritorial Application of Foreign Legislation and Other Measures, and Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law were successively promulgated, supplementing China's "legal toolkit" for protecting its sovereignty, security and development interests. Afterwards, the issuance of the Internal Compliance Guidelines for the Export Control of Dual-use Items by the MOFCOM provided systematic guidelines for enterprises in terms of export compliance, internal control mechanism, system construction, cross-border transactions and cooperation, while imposing new requirements for enterprises engaged in these activities as well.

从执法实践的角度来看，部分口岸海关已陆续依据《出口管制法》第34条对相关违法行为进行了行政处罚。需提示企业注意的是，《出口管制法》第34条规定的罚则为“违法经营额五十万元以上的，并处违法经营额五倍以上十倍以下罚款；没有违法经营额或者违法经营额不足五十万元的，并处五十万元以上五百万元以下罚款”，与《海关行政处罚实施条例》的相关规定相比，其罚款金额会高出很多，需要企业予以高度重视。

From the perspective of law enforcement practice, some port customs have successively imposed administrative penalties on relevant illegal acts in accordance with Article 34 of the Export Control Law. Penalties for exporters under Article 34 of the Export Control Law are a fine of not less than five times but not more than ten times the illegal turnover if the illegal turnover is CNY500,000 or more, or not less than CNY500,000 but not more than CNY5 million if there is no such illegal turnover or the illegal turnover is less than CNY500,000. Compared with the relevant provisions of the Regulations on Implementing Customs Administrative Penalty, the fine amounts are much higher, which requires enterprises to pay great attention.

此外，为进一步完善出口管制制度，商务部于2022年上半年公布了《两用物项出口管制条例》征求意见稿，广泛征求社会意见。待其正式颁布并实施后，现行涉及“核生化导”领域的各个独立的行政法规和部门规章将被修订或废止，而“再出口”“视同出口”“向境外提供出口管制相关信息”等问题可能也会被进一步明确，希望广大企业持续关注。

In addition, to further improve the export control system, the MOFCOM released the draft version of Regulations on the Export Control of Dual-use Items for public comment in the first half of 2022. Upon its official promulgation and entry into force, various independent administrative regulations and departmental rules currently in force related to the field of "nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, and missiles" will be revised or abolished, and issues such as "re-export", "deemed export" and "provision of information subject to export controls to overseas parties" may be further clarified. We hope that all enterprises will continue to pay attention to such issues.

企业面临的管制与制裁风险及合规应对关注点

Export control and sanction risks imposed to enterprises and the corresponding compliance management

出口管制与经济制裁的相关执法在实践中不断调整，对企业的国际贸易、跨境并购/投融资、经济技术合作等交易活动以及日常合规经营都产生着深远影响。例如，某国产手机头部企业因在特定敏感国家开展业务而受到美国政府主管机关的巨额罚款，并被列入实体清单，致使其涉美供应链断裂；某些国际金融机构、船运公司、物流公司等中介机构，因在处理交易过程中未能发现位于特定“黑名单”的敏感客户，而受到美国主管机关的巨额罚款；而中国大型国有企业在“走出去”时，更需综合考虑中国的《反外国制裁法》和可能适用的出口管制与经济制裁领域的合规要求等。再比如，美国2022年10月7日更新了《出口管理条例》内容，不仅直接影响到外国企业等对华半导体领域投资和业务布局，同时还对外国先进计算芯片及相关产品的对华贸易出口产生较大影响，新规还进一步加大了对“美国人”从事中国半导体的限制范围等，引发了社会各界的广泛关注和讨论。

The continuous adjustment in law enforcement related to export controls and economic sanctions has had a profound impact on enterprises' international trade, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investment and financing, and economic and technological cooperation, as well as daily compliance operations. For example, a leading domestic mobile phone manufacturer was fined heavily by the competent authority of the US for engaging in business in certain sensitive countries, and was placed in the Entity List, which led to the breakdown of its US-related supply chain; some international financial institutions, shipping companies and logistics intermediaries have been subject to heavy fines by the US authorities due to failure to identify sensitive clients in certain blacklists during transaction processing; large Chinese SOEs need to take into account the compliance requirements of the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law and applicable export controls and economic sanctions when implementing their "going global" strategy. Furthermore, updates made to the Export Administration Regulations by the US on 7 October 2022 not only directly affect the investment and business layout of foreign companies in the field of semiconductors in China, but also have a significant impact on the trade of foreign advanced computing chips and related products to China. The new regulations have further increased the scope of restrictions on "US persons" engaged in Chinese semiconductors, triggered widespread concerns and discussion within the business community.

除此之外，近年来，不断有中国企业被加入实体清单等各类“黑名单”。以2022年的情况来看，被列入的中国实体达133家（截至2022年12月28日），成功移除的为36家，目前”黑名单”中还有超过1100家中国实体。而在2022年10月7日美国颁布出口管制新规之后，预计还将有更多的企业被列入相关“黑名单”。

Additionally, in recent years Chinese enterprises have been added to the Entity List and other forms of blacklists. In terms of 2022, as of 28 December 2022, the number of Chinese entities added in blacklists amounted to 133; 36 Chinese entities were successfully removed and more than 1100 Chinese entities remain on the blacklists. More companies are expected to be added to the blacklist in the future after the US promulgated new export control regulations on 7 October 2022.

鉴于出口管制和经济制裁领域的法律法规还将不断变化，其相关执法力度也在持续加强，除了国内资本的企业以外，外商投资企业、外商投资企业的境外股东，以及作为中国企业交易对象/合作伙伴的外国企业，也越来越多地意识到相关风险和以及该等风险的高度不确定性。针对于此，对于管制与制裁风险的尽职调查、风险识别与评估、交易物项的识别与分类、交易所涉风险国家的评估、应对及防范对策、与政府主管机关的沟通协调、业务流程调整、供应链溯源调查应对及溯源体系搭建，相关合规体系搭建及改进、完善，“黑名单”筛查、风险防范及“黑名单”移除等法律服务需求正在高速增长。我们也愿意分享在相关领域中积累的丰富经验，与广大企业共同发展和成长。

In view of the fact that laws and regulations in the area of export controls and economic sanctions will continue to evolve, and the relevant enforcement practices will continue to be strengthened, the enterprises with domestic capital, foreign-invested enterprises, overseas shareholders of foreign-invested enterprises, and foreign enterprises that are counterparties/partners of Chinese enterprises are becoming increasingly aware of the accompanying risks and the high degree of uncertainty surrounding such risks. In this regard, demand for legal services such as due diligence of control and sanction risks, risk identification and assessment, transaction items identification and classification, sensitive countries assessment, response and prevention measures, communication and coordination with government authorities, business process adjustment, responses to investigation on supply chain traceability and establishment of the traceability system, establishment and improvement of the internal export compliance programme, blacklist screening and risk prevention, and removal from the blacklist are growing rapidly. We are also willing to share the rich experience accumulated in the fields of export controls and economic sanctions, and develop and grow together with enterprises.