China’s new exit-and-entry rules took effect Tuesday, allowing authorities to prevent Chinese citizens from leaving the country when violations of export-control or technology-import and export rules may endanger national industrial or technological security.
Relevant State Council departments, including commerce authorities, can decide that a citizen may not leave China, while Immigration authorities carry out the ban.
The tighter controls target two kinds of cases: people who left China under false pretenses for cross-border gambling or telecommunications fraud, and people who transferred technology abroad after leaving illegally.
“Those who violate national security and interests, as well as those who violate export control, technology import and export management and other regulations that may endanger national industrial security and technological safety, shall not be allowed to leave the country according to law,” Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Public Security and the National Immigration Administration. said in a joint response issued July 31.
China has had the power to stop citizens from leaving the country on national-security grounds since 2013, when the Exit and Entry Administration Law took effect.
Under that law, authorities can block a departure if they believe it could endanger national security and interests.
The latest measure extends that authority to violations involving export controls and technology transfers.
The ban package includes people who have been punished with administrative detention for forging exit-and-entry documents or illegally entering or leaving the country, as well as citizens involved in illegal or criminal activity abroad that harms China’s security or interests.
The new declaration allows immigration officials to question travelers about where they are going and why, and to request documents or other information when necessary.
Applicants must provide truthful, lawful reasons for their trips, and anyone supplying an invitation letter or other supporting material is responsible for its accuracy.
People refused permission to leave will receive a written notice stating the facts, the reasons and the legal basis for the decision, along with information on how they can seek relief.
Authorities must also issue warnings when overseas travel poses heightened risks.
Those alerts can cover armed conflict, social-security problems, natural disasters and infectious diseases, while travelers heading to high-risk countries or regions may receive specific warnings.
Cheng Xiezhong, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, described the measure as a form of “small and fast” legislation — a narrow administrative fix rather than a broader revision of the law.
Cross-border travel hit a record last year of more than 697 million entries and exits. Guo Yongliang, vice dean of the School of Foreign-Related Security at the People’s National Police University of China, cited agency figures and wrote that the surge has increased the demands on exit-and-entry management.
In effect, technology and export-control violations now sit alongside gambling and fraud among the circumstances in which China can stop someone from leaving the country.
