China issued revised vehicle scrappage guidelines which are likely to take effect from September. The new guidelines aim to regulate the recycling and dismantling of end-of-life vehicles (EoLs) better and encourage scrap generation and recycling industry.
China’s Ministry of Commerce will organise and supervise the recycling and dismantling of EoLs nationwide with the Ministry of Ecology, Transport and other departments holding various responsibilities.
* Provincial commerce departments would issue qualification certificates to recycling and dismantling enterprises. No enterprise or individual will be allowed to operate without qualification certification.
* The commerce departments at county levels will supervise dismantling activities of scrapped motor vehicles in their administrative areas. Local environment authorities will supervise pollution control measures undertaken by recyclers.
* The government has encouraged auto manufacturers to engage in scrappage activities. Manufacturers will provide instruction manuals and technical information to recyclers for dismantling vehicles.
* Businesses wanting to register as vehicle recyclers need to comply with local safety plan. The dismantled site may not be built in residential or commercial areas, or near drinking water source and other such environmentally-sensitive areas.
* Enterprises need to comply with technical specifications for plants and equipment and storage under the Technical Specifications for the Recycling and Dismantling of Scrap Motor Vehicles (GB22128) standards and also comply with Environmental Protection Technical Specification for Dismantling Scrapped Motor Vehicles (HJ348) standard.
* On receiving an application for starting a dismantling enterprise, the provincial authorities are required to complete the examination and take relevant decisions within 20 working days. If a decision is not made in 20 days, it may be extended by another 10 working days and the applicant will be informed by authorities about the extension.
* Recycler shall verify the identity of the vehicle owner and the registration of the vehicle, engine number and other information and then withdraw the license plate.
* After recycling the dismantling enterprise shall enter the motor vehicle information on national automobile circulation system and issue a recycling certificate to the vehicle owner and apply to inform the traffic department.
* In case of new energy vehicles if any of the five major assemblies of the vehicle including exhaust gas after-treatment devices and the power batteries are missing, the vehicle owner shall be responsible for its authenticity and if the motor vehicle frame or engine is missing the recycling enterprise shall not issue a certificate for recycling.
Incentives for scrapping
Many provinces and cities in China have announced incentives for scrapping old high emission vehicles to stimulate new vehicle sales. Beijing is offering subsides of CNY8,000-10,000 ($1,149-1,436) for scraping old and purchasing new vehicle by December.
China plans to scrap around millions of fossil-fuel driven vehicle in the Capital Economic Zone or Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and surrounding region. China is also pushing the adoption of new energy vehicles including electric cars. Some provinces like Guangzhou are providing CNY10,000 subsidy for purchase of electric vehicle.
China’s emphasis on automobile scrappage serves many purposes including improving air quality, boosting new vehicle sales and consumption in downstream auto-related industries and generating scrap for the steel industry.
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