The official Global Times reported on January 6, that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and 11 other government agencies, have said China will step up its supervision on the rare-earth sector and vows to impose severe penalties on those illegally mine, produce or export rare-earth materials and fully realize the "strategic support" from rare-earth materials. They said new guidelines released on January 6. Under the guideline, authorities will strengthen oversight of the mining, refining and export of rare-earth materials, while helping improve the quality of production and use of rare-earth materials. In terms of exports, authorities will strictly follow the procedures and "check every batch of rare earth exports," the guideline said, adding that special attention will also be paid to illegal companies. There will be production shutdowns if companies are found to violate export rules. Chen Zhanheng, Vice Secretary General of the Association of China Rare Earth Industry, clarified to Global Times (January 6) that the move is about cracking down on rare-earth smuggling rather than controlling exports.  

(Comment: As the world's largest rare-earth supplier, China has been criticized for restricting exports of these materials. However, since a 2014 lawsuit at the WTO, which ordered China to cancel its rare-earth export controls, Chinese officials have maintained that they do not control exports.)