On August 24, 2023, General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) published a notification, announcing to immediately suspend the imports of all aquatic products (including edible aquatic animals) originating from Japan, in order to comprehensively prevent the radioactive contamination risk on food caused by the discharge of nuclear wastewater from Fukushima into the sea.
Since Fukushima nuclear disaster occurred on March 11, 2011, China has been strengthening the import restrictions from Japan. The major timeline is as below:
On March 24, 2011, the former General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) announced to ban imported food products including dairy, vegetables and fruits, as well as aquatic products from five Japanese counties.
On April 8, 2011, the former AQSIQ announced to ban the importation of all foods, edible agricultural products and feeds from 12 Japanese counties. When importing from other regions of Japan, a qualification certificate of radioactive substance testing and a certificate of origin issued by the Japanese government should be provided when applying for inspection.
On June 20, 2011, the former AQSIQ lifted the import restrictions on two Japanese counties. Except dairy, vegetables and fruits, aquatic products, tea, and medicinal herbal products, importing other food produced in Japan no longer need a qualification certificate of radioactive substance testing issued by the Japanese government. After the abatement, 10rest counties were still banned from exportation to China.
On February 13, 2017, the former AQSIQ clarified that when importing food products from the remaining 10 Japanese counties, importers shall provide a series of documents including a qualification certificate of qualified radioactive substance testing and a certificate of origin. The requirements also applied to imports from cross-border e-commerce (CBEC).
On July 7, 2023, GACC reinforced the restrictions on Japanese food imports, especially on aquatic products, which are subject to 100% strict inspection.
On August 24, 2023, GACC announced to halt imports of all Japanese aquatic products.
Apart from Mainland China, China's two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao both reacted to the Fukushima wastewater being discharged into the sea.
After Japan announced on August 22, 2023 that it would discharge the treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, Hong Kong immediately banned the import of aquatic products from 10 designated metropolis/prefectures in Japan to Hong Kong, including all live, frozen, chilled, dried or otherwise preserved aquatic products, sea salt, as well as unprocessed or processed seaweed. In addition, all aquatic products imported from Japan must undergo a radiation level test, and only after verifying that they do not exceed the radiation level can they be supplied to the Hong Kong market.
On August 23, Macau announced to ban import of live and fresh food products, food products of animal origin, as well as sea salt and seaweed, including vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products, aquatic products and their derivatives, meat and meat products, poultry eggs, etc., from 10 regions of Japan from August 24.
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