Deadline for China exports hits.

Unless scrap recycling trade groups have been successful asking for a extension, new permitting requirements to export scrap metal to China have already taken effect.

The Chinese government was due to enact new registration requirements for companies shipping scrap metal to the country July 1. In May and June, however, scrap recycling associations were asking for an extension of the deadline date.

Reportedly, companies failing to file the required documentation by the deadline will have to wait for several years before the next time period to file the appropriate paperwork.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. (ISRI), Washington, has sent a letter to its members noting its uncertainty about the possibilty of extending the deadline.

ISRI is working with the Chinese Embassy in Washington to encourage China's State Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) to extend the deadline and to address procedural questions.

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), a Brussels-based consortium of national scrap recycling associations, is taking a similar tack.

In a letter the BIR sent out in early June, Director General Francis Veys expressed concern about the registration procedure's ambiguity as well as the absence of an English translation for some of the announcements.

According to the letter, BIR claimed that few companies would be able to meet the registration deadline, especially because the application procedure had only been released May 8.

In the letter, Veys urged AQSIS to move the registration deadline from July 1 to Oct. 1, 2004.