A State Council Decision 1, made public on July 26,
2013, repealed the administrative measures regarding coal
production licenses. The decision came following changes to
China's Coal Industry Law 2 which abolished the need
for the license. As a result of the changes to the Coal Industry
Law, companies (both domestic and foreign-invested enterprises)
will no longer need to obtain a coal production license to produce
coal or a coal trading license to sell coal.
Abolishment of the Coal Production License and Coal Trading
License
On June 29, 2013, the Standing Committee of the National
People's Congress amended the Coal Industry Law by abolishing
the need for: (i) a mining company to obtain a coal production
license (煤炭生产许可证)
to produce coal, and (ii) a company to obtain a coal trading
license (煤炭经营许可证)
to sell coal. 3 In order to finalize these amendments to
the law, the State Council Decision was issued to repeal the Coal
Production Measures 4 on July 18, 2013. The
