Home / Logistics Knowledge / Dual-Use Export Controls
A shipment leaves without a licence, customs suspects the goods are controlled, and the container stops where it stands. Since 19 October 2026 the procedure that follows has a fixed shape: seven working days to produce evidence, fifteen for the customs review, fifteen more if the ministry has to assess the item technically.
Dual-use items are goods, software, technology and services that have a civilian use and can also serve a military purpose or raise military potential, technical data included. The framework rests on the Export Control Law, the Dual-Use Items Export Control Regulations that took effect on 1 December 2024, and the control list the Ministry of Commerce maintains and revises.
The licence is issued by the Ministry of Commerce, not by customs. What customs does at the port is check whether a licence sits behind the declaration. Where the entry carries none and something about the goods draws attention, customs issues a written query rather than releasing the cargo, and the shipper has to argue the point with documents.
Notice 52 of 2026, issued jointly by the Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs on 19 October 2026, replaced Notice 123 of June 2025. It took effect on publication and repealed the earlier text. Four of the changes are felt at the counter.
| Point | Notice 123 | Notice 52 |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence the shipper submits | Declaration form, contract, statement, test reports, other material | Adds the commercial invoice and transport documents showing where the goods are going |
| Who decides | Customs judges, or applies to the export control authority for an assessment | Customs judges; where needed the customs administration refers the item to the ministry, which convenes experts and may send samples for testing |
| Time limits | None stated | 15 working days for customs, 15 for the ministry |
| Mixed declarations | Whole entry held | Unrelated goods on the same declaration may be split out and cleared separately, with customs approval |
| Channels covered | General trade | Also cross-border e-commerce, passenger carry, post and express, applied by reference |
The same day produced decisions on drones, tunnel boring machines and dredgers, which says something about the direction of the list: it is being revised in public, item by item, and a classification that was safe two quarters ago may not be safe now. Treat any answer on classification as dated.
The clock starts on the date the notice is received, and seven working days is roughly a week and a half of calendar time. Everything submitted has to carry the company seal, and anything in a foreign language needs a Chinese translation attached.
| Item | What it must show | Where files usually fail |
|---|---|---|
| Declaration form, export contract, commercial invoice, transport documents | The transaction and the actual flow of the goods: who bought, where it goes, how it travels | Invoice consignee does not match the bill of lading, or no transport document at all because the booking was still provisional |
| Statement of circumstances | Performance parameters, principal use, and the legal and factual reasons the item falls outside control | "For civil use" with no figures, no threshold comparison, nothing a reviewer can test |
| Technical documentation | Datasheets, specifications, and test or inspection reports where they exist | Marketing brochure instead of a spec sheet; no test report for the parameter that triggered the query |
| Other material on request | Anything further customs considers necessary | Ignored, or supplied after the window closes |
| Step | Who acts | Time allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Query notice issued on the entry | Customs | Day zero |
| Evidence file submitted, sealed and translated | Shipper | 7 working days from receipt of the notice |
| Judgment, or referral to the ministry for assessment | Customs | 15 working days from receipt of the complete file |
| Expert assessment, laboratory testing where needed | Ministry of Commerce | 15 working days from receipt of the complete referral |
| Result notice issued and the entry disposed of | Customs | On the conclusion |
In an ordinary case that puts the whole sequence inside thirty working days of the file being complete. Two categories drop out of the count: time the shipper spends submitting or supplementing material, and time spent testing the goods. Major or difficult cases are not bound by the limits at all.
| Finding | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Not a dual-use item | Clearance continues and the entry is processed normally |
| A dual-use item | Handled under the control rules. With a valid licence the shipment proceeds; without one the goods are not released and the case is dealt with under the Export Control Law, which reaches confiscation of illegal gains and fines |
| Other circumstances | Handled as the relevant requirements provide, which in practice means the goods stay where they are until the position is settled |
A licence that exists but does not match the entry is its own problem. Model, quantity, consignee and end user on the licence have to line up with the declaration; a mismatch turns a licensed shipment into an unlicensed one at the moment of inspection.
While the query or the assessment runs, customs does not release the goods. That is the default, and it applies to the whole declaration unless something is done about it.
In practice the queries cluster. Unmanned aircraft and their components, machine tools, rare earth products and permanent magnets, precision instruments, graphite, gallium and germanium items, and high-performance alloys and composites come up repeatedly.
The reason is how the list is written. Entries are drafted around thresholds — positioning accuracy, purity, magnetic performance, tensile strength, temperature tolerance — so an item whose figures sit near a threshold needs evidence rather than assertion. A product name that reads civilian proves nothing either way.
The notice applies by reference to exports through cross-border e-commerce, goods carried by passengers, postal items and express consignments. A sample in a courier bag is not outside the regime because it is small, and the shipper named on the waybill answers the query in the same seven working days.
No. Fifteen working days for customs and fifteen for the ministry's assessment is the ordinary case. Time the shipper spends submitting or supplementing material, and time spent on testing, is excluded, and major or difficult cases are not bound by the limit at all.
The query is addressed to the shipper named on the export declaration, which in normal trade is the Chinese supplier or its agent. A foreign buyer has no filing obligation, but the file cannot be completed without material only the buyer holds: end-user details, end-use description, and often a technical spec for the finished product the parts go into.
No. A dual-use export licence carries the item, quantity, consignee and end user, and a licence that does not match the model, quantity or consignee on the declaration will not clear the cargo. Validity is generally up to one year, and where it runs across a year end it can only be used to 31 March of the following year.
Not from customs. The query and the hold are lawful acts under the Export Control Law and the Customs Law, so storage, demurrage and missed shipment dates sit where the sales contract puts them. That is the reason to agree a clause on who applies for licences and who carries delay risk before the order is confirmed.
No. Article 12 of the Export Control Law requires a licence for unlisted goods, technology and services where the exporter knows, should know, or has been notified that they may endanger national security, be used for weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems, or serve terrorism. Being off the list is the start of the analysis, not the end.
Yes. The notice applies by reference to exports through cross-border e-commerce, goods carried by passengers, postal items and express consignments. Low value does not remove the item from the control list.
No. The timeline runs from receipt of a complete file, so the only lever is the quality of what the shipper submits. A file that answers the parameters, the use and the destination in one pass is what moves the date; a partial file stops the clock rather than starting it.
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