From May 10, the export of test kits, medical masks, medical protective suits, ventilators, infrared thermometers and other medical supplies and non-medical masks in the form of market purchase trade will be suspended in the whole country, according to the Yiwu Municipal Bureau of Commerce in Zhejiang. It is especially noted that the restriction of export only applies for the “5+1” supplies for epidemic prevention (“5” literally means five types of medical supplies such as medical masks, “1” literally means the non-medical masks”), thus not all the supplies for epidemic prevention cannot be exported by market purchase trade.

“Market purchase trade”, a new form of trade and a new mode of trade, refers to the trade mode in which qualified operators purchase goods with the value of a single bill of entry not greater than USD 150,000 in the market cluster area recognized by the state administration of commerce and other departments, and go through the customs formalities for export goods at the place of purchase. This mode, featured by fast and convenient customs clearance and free-of-VAT, mainly aims at the export trade which involves “small order size, miscellaneous goods and various varieties” and does not have a ticket in the professional market.

The above-mentioned measures were taken because the General Administration of Customs announced a large number of cases that unqualified supplies for epidemic prevention were exported recently. On May 9, the General Administration of Customs released a list of disqualified batches of exported supplies for epidemic prevention in quality and safety, involving over 1.86 million unqualified masks in total. Besides, 16 export enterprises and their related manufacturers were on the roll call. Recently, the Announcement of Ensuring the Orderly Export of Medical Supplies and the Announcement of Further Enhancing Quality Oversight on Exported Supplies for Epidemic Prevention were continuously issued by the Ministry of Commerce, General Administration of Customs and the State Administration for Market Regulation, which require that competent departments should standardize the export order of supplies for epidemic prevention.

If the five types of medical supplies are exported as per the Chinese quality standard, the manufacturer should provide a registration certificate of medical device approved by relevant drug administrations (the registration information of medical devices in China updated dynamically on the website of National Medical Products Administration www.nmpa.gov.cn); if these supplies are exported as per the quality standards of foreign countries, the manufacturer should be on the list of manufacturers certified or registered by foreign standards published by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products. Submission of statement of exported medical supplies are required for either situation.