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China E-Waste Law e-waste deadlines and compliance calendar

Track the deadlines and change triggers that apply to qualified e-waste treatment operators in China.

The national rules do not set one annual producer filing or one uniform permit-renewal date. Most calendar duties arise when a treatment permit application is accepted, an operator changes its registered details or facility, monitoring and reporting recur, or treatment ends.

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Author

Sorena AI

Published

Jul 5, 2026

Updated

Jul 24, 2026

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Cited legal and guidance references.

Publication metadata

Sorena AI

Published Jul 5, 2026

Updated Jul 24, 2026

Overview

China's Environmental Code takes effect on 15 August 2026. From that date, Article 978 requires electrical and electronic product producers, in accordance with state rules, to establish and publicly disclose a waste-product recovery system matched to product sales volume and fulfil recovery and utilization responsibilities. For products listed in the national treatment catalogue, producers and collection businesses must route recovered waste to a qualified treatment enterprise. The other fixed periods on this page mainly govern that enterprise's permit application, registered changes, monitoring records, data retention, and closure. Check the permit's own validity period and local authority requirements because the national licensing measures do not state one uniform permit term.

Section 1

Scope and historical dates

The State Council promulgated the Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products on 25 February 2009. The regulation and the MEE treatment-qualification measures both took effect on 1 January 2011; the State Council regulation was revised on 2 March 2019. A 60-day application window for enterprises already treating e-waste when the licensing measures began was transitional and expired in 2011. The Environmental Code was adopted on 12 March 2026 and takes effect on 15 August 2026.

The rules apply to recovery, treatment, and related activities for waste products listed in the national Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Treatment Catalogue. Treatment includes dismantling, extracting material for raw material or fuel, changing physical or chemical characteristics to reduce volume or hazardous constituents, and final placement in a compliant landfill. Repair, refurbishment, and resale after repair or refurbishment are outside that treatment definition.

Participating in collection does not make a producer, seller, repair business, after-sales service provider, or collector a treatment enterprise. Recovered covered waste must go to a qualified treatment enterprise. A collector that treats the waste itself must first obtain the . The State Council regulation separately allows a province-approved centralized treatment site that has the required centralized pollution-control facilities and complies with the applicable standards; do not treat location in an industrial park as proof of that approval.

Before setting dates, confirm that the discarded product is listed in the national treatment catalogue.
Classify the activity as collection, repair or refurbishment, or treatment; the treatment-permit calendar does not govern every collection activity.
Identify the treatment facility and the municipal ecology and environment authority that issued its qualification certificate.
Record the certificate number, facility address, covered product categories, equipment and operating parameters, approved capacity, stated validity period, issue date, and any local conditions.
Set contractual review dates for producer and collector vendor checks. The national regulation does not prescribe a universal annual producer review.

Sources for this answer

Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products

Articles 2, 3, 6, 11, 12, 34, and 35 establish the treatment definition, catalogue-based scope, qualification system, qualified-treatment route, centralized-site provision, and 1 January 2011 commencement; the MEE page records the 2009 promulgation and 2019 revision.

Qualification Licensing Measures for Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Disposal

Articles 2, 11, 26, and 27 identify catalogue products, certificate contents, the expired 60-day transition for existing operators, and the 1 January 2011 commencement.

Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China

Articles 978 and 1242 establish the producer recovery-system and public-disclosure duty from 15 August 2026.

Section 2

Permit application and change calendar

An applicant submits its written qualification application and supporting materials to the ecology and environment authority of the city with districts where the treatment facility is located. Within three working days after accepting the application, that authority must publicize the application information. The public-comment period must last at least ten working days. The authority must review the materials, conduct an on-site inspection, and decide within 60 days after acceptance.

The certificate records a validity period, but the national licensing measures do not prescribe one duration for every certificate. Use the date printed on the certificate and the issuing authority's process for expiry planning. Do not substitute the separate five-year cycle for revising the for the certificate's own validity period.

Before treatment starts: obtain a certificate covering the facility, waste categories, main equipment and operating parameters, and treatment capacity.
Within 15 working days after business-registration change: apply to the original issuing authority when the enterprise's legal name, legal representative, or domicile changes.
Before expanding the licensed activity: reapply through the original procedure when adding a treatment category, building a treatment facility, renovating or expanding an existing facility, or treating more than 20% above the capacity stated on the certificate.
After the is revised: the original issuing authority reviews enterprises that intend to continue and replaces the certificates of those that still meet the conditions.
When treatment will end: first apply pollution-prevention measures to the facility and site and properly handle untreated e-waste; apply to the original issuing authority for cancellation within 20 days after taking those measures. Cancellation follows a satisfactory on-site inspection.
After deciding to end treatment: conduct an environmental investigation and risk assessment of the facility and site. If remediation is needed, the enterprise bears that responsibility under applicable law.

Sources for this answer

Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products

Articles 22 to 24 require qualification before treatment, state the permit conditions, and give the authority 60 days from receipt of complete application materials to decide.

Qualification Licensing Measures for Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Disposal

Articles 3 and 8 to 15 establish the five-year regional-plan revision cycle, application authority, three-working-day publication period, minimum ten-working-day comment period, 60-day decision period, certificate contents, 15-working-day change deadline, reapplication triggers, plan-revision review, and 20-day cancellation deadline.

Section 3

Recurring monitoring, reporting, and authority dates

A treatment enterprise must prepare an annual monitoring plan and conduct routine monitoring of pollutant discharges. It must retain monitoring reports for at least three years. It must also maintain a treatment-data information system, report and related information periodically to the issuing authority, make that information public, and retain the basic treatment data for at least three years. The national measures do not give one calendar date for the annual plan or one national interval for periodic data submissions, so record the issuing authority's schedule instead of inventing a default date.

Some recurring dates belong to authorities, not operators. The local ecology and environment authority must conduct supervisory monitoring of a treatment enterprise's pollutant discharges at least once every six months. By 31 March each year, the city authority must report the prior year's certificate issuance to the provincial authority.

Annual, on the operator's documented schedule: prepare the pollutant-monitoring plan; confirm any timing required by the issuing authority.
Ongoing: perform routine discharge monitoring and retain each monitoring report for at least three years.
Periodic, on the schedule required by the issuing authority: submit and related information and make the required information public.
At least three years: retain the required by the State Council regulation.
At least once every six months: expect authority supervisory monitoring; this is the authority's minimum frequency, not a replacement for the operator's routine monitoring.
By 31 March each year: the city authority, not the treatment enterprise, reports the previous year's certificate issuance to the provincial authority.

Sources for this answer

Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products

Articles 16 and 17 require routine environmental monitoring, a treatment-data system, reporting to the city authority, and retention of basic treatment data for at least three years.

Qualification Licensing Measures for Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Disposal

Articles 17, 19, and 20 set the authority's 31 March reporting date, the operator's annual monitoring plan and monitoring-report retention for at least three years, supervisory monitoring at least once every six months, and periodic data reporting and disclosure.

Section 4

Evidence and handoff controls

For each waste route, keep enough information to show why the product is in scope, who collected it, which qualified enterprise treated it, and whether the certificate covered the facility, category, process, and capacity at the time. The national rules expressly require operator monitoring and treatment data; the broader chain-of-custody file below is a practical control for checking the qualified-treatment route, not a prescribed national form.

Keep China RoHS product-content and marking records separate from end-of-life treatment records. The State Council e-waste regulation requires specified hazardous-substance content and recovery information on the product or in its instructions, but a material declaration or RoHS label does not show that discarded products reached a qualified treatment enterprise.

Scope record: catalogue entry, product family, discarded-product status, and the reason the activity is treatment rather than repair or refurbishment.
Role record: producer, importer consignee or agent, seller, repair or after-sales provider, collector, and treatment enterprise.
Permit record: issuing authority, certificate number, facility, categories, operating parameters, approved capacity, validity period, and later changes.
Handoff record: waste identity, quantity, date, origin, destination, carrier, receipt, and the qualified treatment enterprise.
Operator record: annual monitoring plan, monitoring reports, treatment-data submissions and disclosures, inspections, certificate changes, reapplications, and closure records.
Review trigger: new product category, new collection route, new treatment provider, facility or equipment change, capacity change, certificate expiry, or planned termination.

Sources for this answer

Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products

Articles 10 to 12, 16, and 17 distinguish product information, collection and qualified treatment, routine monitoring, and treatment-data records.

Qualification Licensing Measures for Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Disposal

Articles 11 to 20 identify the certificate fields, change and closure controls, inspection records, monitoring reports, and treatment-data system that support the evidence file.

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Primary sources

References and citations

Environmental Code of the People's Republic of China

mee.gov.cn

Referenced sections

Articles 978 and 1242 establish the producer recovery-system and public-disclosure duty from 15 August 2026.

Qualification Licensing Measures for Waste Electrical and Electronic Product Disposal

mee.gov.cn

Referenced sections

Articles 11 to 20 identify the certificate fields, change and closure controls, inspection records, monitoring reports, and treatment-data system that support the evidence file.

Regulation on Recovery and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products

mee.gov.cn

Referenced sections