Short answer: exporting controlled items without a licence is mainly an administrative offence under China’s Export Control Law — confiscation of illegal gains plus a fine of five to ten times the illegal business turnover — but the same shipment can become a criminal case, most often through the smuggling offences in the Criminal Law, and since 2020 the law also reaches conduct outside China.

What the law provides

The Export Control Law was passed on 17 October 2020 and has been in force since 1 December 2020. It is China’s first unified export control statute, and it covers dual-use items, military products, nuclear items and other goods, technologies and services connected with national security and non-proliferation. Items on the control lists may not be exported without a licence.

Article 34 sets the administrative penalties: an exporter that exports without a licence, or beyond the scope of its licence, is ordered to stop, has its illegal gains confiscated, and where the illegal business turnover reaches RMB 500,000, is fined five to ten times that turnover. Enforcement runs through customs and the penalties are published; in one December 2025 case an instrument manufacturer was fined RMB 59,000 for an export control breach.

Dual-use items have their own implementing regulation: the Regulation on Export Control of Dual-Use Items (State Council Order No. 792), adopted on 18 September 2024, published on 19 October 2024 and in force from 1 December 2024. It runs to six chapters and 50 articles and repeats that conduct constituting a crime is prosecuted under the Criminal Law.

The criminal route matters most where the goods are prohibited from export altogether. Article 151 of the Criminal Law covers smuggling goods and articles prohibited from import or export; its third paragraph, which reaches “other goods and articles prohibited from import or export”, carries up to five years, or five years and more where circumstances are serious. Where the goods are not prohibited but the declaration is false, the general smuggling offence applies, and where the trade itself is unlicensed, illegal business under Article 225 is a further possibility.

Article 44 gives the Law extraterritorial reach: organisations and individuals outside China who breach the export control rules and harm China’s national security and interests, or obstruct its non-proliferation obligations, can be dealt with under the Law.

What this means in practice

Two things catch companies out. First, the licence must be in hand before the goods move — a consignment stopped at customs is already a breach, and the fine scales with the value of the transaction rather than the profit. Second, the extraterritorial clause means a foreign buyer or re-exporter is not automatically outside the rules, which matters for distributors who onward-sell Chinese controlled items.

A typical scenario (hypothetical)

A trading company in Shenzhen ships dual-use alloy components to a distributor in Southeast Asia without applying for a licence, describing them on the customs declaration under an ordinary commodity code. Customs stops the consignment. The company faces confiscation of its gains and a turnover-based fine, and because the goods were declared falsely to get past supervision, the file can also move to the criminal track as smuggling of goods prohibited from export.

FAQ

Q: Do I need a licence to export controlled items from China?

A: Yes. Under the Export Control Law, in force since 1 December 2020, items on the control lists — dual-use items, military products and nuclear items among them — require a licence before export.

Q: What is the penalty for exporting without a licence?

A: An order to stop, confiscation of illegal gains, and where the illegal business turnover reaches RMB 500,000, a fine of five to ten times that turnover (Article 34).

Q: Can an export control breach be a criminal offence in China?

A: Yes. Where the conduct also amounts to a Criminal Law offence — most often smuggling goods prohibited from export under Article 151 — it is prosecuted criminally.

Q: Does China’s Export Control Law apply outside China?

A: Yes. Article 44 covers organisations and individuals outside China who violate the rules and harm China’s national security and interests.

Q: Which rules govern dual-use items?

A: The Regulation on Export Control of Dual-Use Items (State Council Order No. 792), effective from 1 December 2024.

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Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512