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(…) During 2014-2015, Members raised several specific concerns regarding measures imposed by China on sanitary grounds. These measures included: China's measures on bovine meat ; the Chinese import regime, including quarantine and testing procedures for fish; China's import restrictions due to African swine fever; and China's proposed amendments to the implementation regulations on the safety assessment of agricultural GMOs.

Exporters must comply with the requirements stipulated in the Catalogue of Import and Export Commodities Subject to Compulsory Inspection , which is amended every year to add or subtract commodities as required for the protection of human and animal health, the environment, and national security, and to promote steady export growth and adjust the export structure. (...)

As in the case of imports, the State may restrict or forbid exports to: maintain national security and public morality; protect human, animal and plant health; protect the environment; protect exhaustible natural resources that are in short supply or require "effective protection"; organize "export business management"; comply with China's international commitments; or under any other circumstance as provided for in any law or administrative regulation.

MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce), in collaboration with other relevant departments, formulates and issues a Catalogue of Goods Restricted or Forbidden for Export; this Catalogue was last updated in 2008. Reflecting this, the products subject to export prohibitions remained unchanged since 2013. Export prohibitions apply to products such as: bezoar, musk, black moss, certain plants, bones, ivory, natural sands (HS Chapter 25) asbestos, halogenated derivatives of hydrocarbons, organic chemicals (HS Chapter 29), fertilizers (not chemically treated); unprocessed wood and some platinum products.

Table 3.11 Products subject to export quotas and licensing, 2015-16
Goods subject to licensing
- Products: (...); rare earth ; (...) natural sand; (...)
- Type of management: Export licence
- Comment: A licence is granted to the exporter who has signed the relevant export contract

- Products: Substances depleting the ozone layer, and alumina, coke, tungsten products, silicon carbide, manganese, and fluorite
- Type of management: Export licence
- Comment: An export permit is required before applying for a licence

Exporters are entitled to VAT rebates on all exported goods. Certain goods are not eligible for a rebate. [133] (...) endangered animals and plants may not benefit from any rebate.

[133] Products not subject to VAT rebate include: high-energy-consuming products, high-polluting products, and those related to the use of resources; and endangered species of fauna and flora (information provided by the Chinese authorities).

The management of the VAT rebate is used to meet certain goals. The authorities have noted that it accommodates the request for environmental protection, energy saving and emission reduction. They noted that the rebate is used to discourage the production and export of environmental polluting products. (...)

During the period under review, China continued to provide a number of incentives to different sectors or industries. Some of these schemes are geared at, inter alia, upgrading production methods in industries that use obsolete technologies; promoting development in remote areas and narrowing the income gap between regions ; and attracting FDI (Section 2). Support also continues to be granted to, inter alia, specific strategic industries with the purpose of promoting innovation, upgrading industries, and protecting the environment and promoting green development, as well as to agriculture (Section 4). In general, support is granted through tax preferences, direct transfers, and access to credit (Table A3.2).

The new notification does not include one programme, previously notified to the WTO, which appears to be in force. [142] (...)

[142] The programme is called the Preferential tax policies for the relief of grain producers and disaster relief for grain producers, compensation to grain producers for returning cultivated land to forests and to grassland, and grain rations for migrants from the reservoir areas.

General policies, as well as industries and activities identified as priorities, are outlined in the Central Government Five Year Plans. For instance, the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) called for the transformation and upgrading of key existing industries to increase the competitiveness of China's industrial core, and for the development of strategic emerging industries (SEIs). [146] (...)

[146] (...) The strategic emerging industries mentioned in the Plan are: energy conservation and environmental protection; new-generation IT; biological products; high-end equipment manufacturing; new energy (development of new-generation nuclear energy and solar utilization, photovoltaic and photo-thermal power generation, and intelligent power grids and biomass energy); new materials; and new-energy automobiles.