On October 20, 2023, the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs issued an announcement on optimizing and adjusting temporary export control measures for graphite items. According to this announcement, starting from December 1, 2023, the original Announcement No. 50 of 2006 (Decision on Implementing Temporary Export Control Measures for Graphite-Related Products) will be repealed, and export controls will be imposed on certain graphite items. This article provides a detailed explanation of the main contents of this new policy and the response strategies for enterprises.

Additional controlled items:Three highly sensitive graphite items have been officially included in the dual-use items export control list, namely:
1) High-purity, high-strength, high-density artificial graphite materials and their products (refer to Customs commodity codes: 3801100030, 3801909010, 6815190020);
2) Natural flake graphite and its products, including spheroidized graphite, expanded graphite, etc. (refer to Customs commodity codes: 2504101000, 2504109100, 3801901000, 3801909010, 3824999940, 6815190020).

Removed controlled items:The temporary controls on five low-sensitivity graphite items mainly used in basic national economic industries, such as carbon electrodes for furnaces, have been lifted.

Effective date:The new policy will be officially implemented from December 1, 2023, and the old policy from 2006 will be repealed simultaneously.

Before December 1, 2023:Enterprises still need to apply for dual-use items and technology export licenses for graphite products in accordance with the old requirements.

After December 1, 2023:
1) For the three highly sensitive graphite items officially included in the dual-use items export control list, enterprises must apply for dual-use items and technology export licenses;
2) For the other five low-sensitivity graphite items, enterprises do not need to apply for any licenses.

This policy adjustment aims to better balance development and security, ensure the stability of the global supply chain, and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation. Highly sensitive graphite items are widely used in nuclear energy,New energyand other fields. The optimization and adjustment of their export controls are intended to better safeguard national security and interests.