China offers rewards for reporting rare earth export control violations

Beijing is sharpening the tools it uses to police rare earth and other strategic mineral exports, announcing fresh measures that will reward companies and individuals for reporting suspected violations.
The announcement came on Wednesday, the same day Tokyo confirmed that two of its nationals had been detained in China over alleged attempts to smuggle rare earth-related goods out of the country.
“Any organisation or individual has the right to report conduct suspected of violating relevant laws and regulations in the export of dual-use strategic mineral items,” the Ministry of Commerce said.
The goal of the new measures, which come into effect on July 1, would be to strengthen oversight in Beijing’s efforts to “combat” violations and irregularities, it added.
The ministry promised a reward for reports confirmed to be true and encouraged export entities to take the initiative if they suspected any violations. “Self-disclosure will be taken into account as a factor in granting a lighter or mitigated penalty for the relevant violations or irregularities,” it added.
The announcement listed more than a dozen violations, including exports without the required licences, attempts to circumvent restrictions and the illegal transfer of strategic-mineral-related technologies abroad through intellectual property licensing, investment and other channels.
The measures would also extend to those who knowingly provide services to individuals or firms that unlawfully export controlled minerals.

The ministry said that accepting or promising to accept visits requested by foreign governments related to export controls on strategic mineral dual-use items, without prior authorisation, also counted as a violation and should be reported. It vowed to conduct strict screening against potential malicious reports.
“Leveraging the supervisory role of public reporting against export control violations is a common international practice, and many countries around the world have relevant regulations in place,” the ministry said in a separate statement.
“Drawing on international experience to improve China’s export control reporting system for strategic mineral dual-use items can effectively prevent these items from being used for illegal purposes.”
Beijing had gained experience in handling such reports and it was necessary to clarify reporting channels to better process leads, it added.
The announcement came as Japan announced that two of its citizens were detained in May, with both accused of violating Chinese laws governing the import and export of restricted goods. China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed the detentions on Wednesday, with spokesman Guo Jiakun urging Tokyo to “educate and remind Japanese citizens and companies in China to abide by Chinese laws and regulations”.
On the same day, the Ministry of Commerce released new measures on its website to ensure industrial and supply-chain security, granting it the power to launch investigations into foreign governments, organisations and individuals whose discriminatory bans, trade cutoffs or similar actions were deemed to harm – or threaten to harm – China’s industrial supply chains.
The ministry said it could ban or restrict trade and investments by individuals or companies should investigations confirm any violations.
Additional reporting by Ji Siqi