(Promulgated by Decree No. 71 of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Natural Resources on July 28, 2025, and shall come into force on the date of promulgation.)
Article 1
These Measures are formulated for the purpose of strengthening the administration of total quantity control over rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation, in accordance with the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China, the Rare Earth Management Regulations, and other laws, administrative regulations, and relevant national provisions.
Article 2
For the purpose of these Measures, "rare earth mining" refers to the production process of mining and dressing various types of rare earth raw ores (including bastnaesite ore, ion-adsorption rare earth ore, and mixed rare earth ore) to produce rare earth ore products.
For the purpose of these Measures, "rare earth smelting and separation" refers to the production process of processing rare earth ore products into various types of single or mixed rare earth oxides, salts, and other compounds.
Article 3
The State implements total quantity control over rare earth mining (including rare earth ore products, etc.) and the smelting and separation of various rare earth ore products (including monazite concentrate) obtained through mining, import, and processing of other minerals.
Article 4
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission, shall be responsible for the national administration of total quantity control over rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation.
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with their respective functions and responsibilities, be responsible for the administration of total quantity control over rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation within their administrative regions.
Article 5
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission, shall, based on factors such as national economic development goals, reserves and type differences of national rare earth resources, development of the rare earth industry, ecological protection, and market demand, study and formulate the annual total quantity control indicators for rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation (hereinafter referred to as "total quantity control indicators"), and submit them to the State Council for approval.
Article 6
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources, shall, in accordance with the total quantity control indicators approved by the State Council and taking into comprehensive consideration factors such as the production capacity, technical level, and environmental protection and safety standards of rare earth production enterprises, refine and allocate the total quantity control indicators, issue them to rare earth mining enterprises and rare earth smelting and separation enterprises (hereinafter collectively referred to as "rare earth production enterprises"), and notify the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under the relevant provincial people's governments.
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under provincial people's governments shall notify the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under local people's governments at or above the county level where the rare earth production enterprises are located of the issuance of the total quantity control indicators.
Article 7
Rare earth production enterprises shall strictly comply with laws, administrative regulations, and relevant national provisions, and engage in rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation within the scope of the total quantity control indicators.
Rare earth production enterprises shall be determined by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology together with the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Except for the enterprises determined in accordance with the preceding paragraph, no other organizations or individuals may engage in rare earth mining or rare earth smelting and separation.
Article 8
Rare earth production enterprises shall be responsible for the implementation of the total quantity control indicators of their own enterprises.
Article 9
Rare earth production enterprises shall promptly submit the monthly and annual implementation of the total quantity control indicators to the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under the county-level people's governments where they are located.
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under local people's governments at or above the county level shall summarize the monthly and annual implementation of the total quantity control indicators by rare earth production enterprises within their administrative regions, and promptly submit the summary to the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under the people's governments at the next higher level.
Article 10
Rare earth production enterprises shall establish a system for recording the flow of rare earth products, truthfully record information on the flow of rare earth products, and enter the information on the flow of rare earth products of the previous month into the rare earth product traceability information system established by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology together with relevant departments before the 10th day of each month.
Article 11
Rare earth production enterprises shall fulfill the obligations of network and data security protection, establish and improve internal enterprise network and data security management systems, enhance the level of enterprise network and data security protection, and ensure enterprise network and data security.
Article 12
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen the supervision and inspection of the implementation of the total quantity control indicators and other matters, investigate and punish illegal acts in accordance with the law, and strictly implement the provisions and requirements of laws, administrative regulations, and the State Council on administrative inspections involving enterprises, so as to ensure that supervision and inspection are based on law, strict, standardized, fair, civilized, accurate, and efficient.
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under local people's governments at or above the county level shall promptly report the investigation and punishment of illegal acts to the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under the people's governments at the next higher level.
The competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under provincial people's governments shall submit the overall situation of supervision and inspection of the total quantity control indicators within their administrative regions to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Natural Resources before the end of December each year.
Article 13
Where a rare earth production enterprise violates the provisions of these Measures, or refuses or obstructs the supervision and inspection departments in performing their supervision and inspection duties in accordance with the law, the competent departments of industry and information technology and natural resources under people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with their respective functions and responsibilities, order corrections and impose penalties in accordance with the provisions of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China, the Rare Earth Management Regulations, and other laws and administrative regulations.
Article 14
Where a rare earth production enterprise violates the provisions of these Measures and is subject to administrative penalties, the total quantity control indicators for the following year shall be reduced.
Article 15
Where staff members of the competent departments of industry and information technology, natural resources, or development and reform abuse their powers, neglect their duties, or engage in malpractices for personal gain in the administration of total quantity control over rare earth mining and rare earth smelting and separation, they shall be given sanctions in accordance with the law.
Article 16
Where a violation of the provisions of these Measures constitutes an act violating public security administration, public security administration penalties shall be imposed in accordance with the law; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be pursued in accordance with the law.
Article 17
These Measures shall come into force on the date of promulgation. The Notice on Issuing the Interim Measures for the Administration of Mandatory Rare Earth Production Plans (Gongxinbu Yuan [2012] No. 285) promulgated by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on June 13, 2012, shall be repealed simultaneously.
