China publishes provisions on the Unreliable Entity List

On 19th September 2020, the People's Republic of China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) published (Chinese, English for reference) provisions on the Unreliable Entity List according to China’s Foreign Trade and National Security laws. The provisions stipulate that a foreign entity can be placed on the Unreliable Entity List if it 1) jeopardizes China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests or 2) prohibits normal transactions or discriminates against Chinese companies or individuals.

The provisions outline a ‘working mechanism’ by which entities are place on the Unreliable Entity List that include the 1) degree of danger to Chinese national sovereignty, security or development interests, 2) amount of damage to Chinese rights and interests, 3) compliance (or lack thereof) of internationally accepted economic and trade rules, and 4) “other factors.” Placement on the list can result in restrictions on imports, exports, investments, travel, legal status, etc. According to a Q&A session from MOFCOM, the Unreliable Entity List is currently empty and does not have a “preset timetable” or list of companies. For more information please see MOFCOM’s press release.

PST.AG will be monitoring this new list for any updates or entries and will notify our customers accordingly.