MSC changes on the acceptance of solid waste to PR of China and Hong Kong

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has been informed that the Government of P.R. of China has recently adopted new legislation concerning” the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution” in China.

This is applicable to all solid waste goods such as wastepaper, waste plastics, waste metals, waste chemicals, among others.
MSC will not accept any more such cargoes as from the June 1st, 2020 to be compliant by the September 1st, 2020 (cargo arrival date)
Below information from the Chinese Government in italic.
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Kindly be advised that on 29 April 2020, the amendment to Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Solid Waste Pollution was adopted and will take effective from 1 September 2020.
The updated law makes more clearer on the prevention and control of environmental pollution by solid waste, strengthen the supervision and management responsibility of government and its relevant departments via multiple measures to gradually realize zero import of solid waste.
The key concerns to carriers are focused on below updated terms regarding liability of import the solid waste:
    •    The updated term clearly indicate that the carriers shall be joint liable with the importers, while previous term carriers only take the responsibility of return the solid waste or bear the disposal charges in case importer is not identified.
    •    The penalty imposed by Customs will increase 5 times compared with previous term (increase from CNY100,000 – CNY1,000,000 to CNY500,000 – CNY5,000,000).
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Bookings without activity will be cancelled as well.
Bookings with activity will be evaluated on case to case basis, to ensure they will arrive in China before the deadline established from the Chinese Government.