On December 29, 2023, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MoC), the General Administration of Customs of China (GACC), and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) jointly issued the Catalogue of Goods Prohibited from Import (9th Batch) and the Catalogue of Goods Prohibited from Export (8th Batch). According to the joint circular, the prohibitions on the import and export of the following four types of chemicals took effect on January 1, 2024. However, if they are used for laboratory-scale research or as a reference standard, the prohibitions do not apply.
Name | CAS Number | HS Code |
Decabromodiphenyl ether | 1163-19-5 | 2909309018 |
Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and its salts and perfluorooctyl sulfonyl fluoride | E.g., 1763-23-1 29081-56-9 29457-72-5 2795-39-3 307-35-7 70225-14-8 56773-42-3 251099-16-8 31506-32-8 4151-50-2 1691-99-2 24448-09-7 | 2904310000 2904320000 2904330000 2904340000 2904350000 2904360000 2922160000 2923300000 2923400000 2935100000 2935200000 2935300000 2935400000 |
Short-chain chlorinated paraffins | E.g., 85535-84-8 68920-70-7 71011-12-6 85536-22-7 85681-73-8 108171-26-2 | 3404900010 3824890001 3824999991 |
Dechlorane plus and its cis and trans isomers | 13560-89-9 135821-03-3 135821-74-8 | 2903890030 |
These chemicals were persistent organic pollutants (POPs) listed under the Stockholm Conventions on POPs. They were included in the List of New Pollutants for Priority Management (2023) on December 30, 2022, and subject to prohibitions and restrictions with specific exemptions. The corresponding exemption period expired on December 31, 2023. To protect human health and the environment, they are now listed in the abovementioned two catalogues and cannot be imported or exported within China.