Three departments, including the General Office of the Ministry of Transport ("MOT"), have recently issued the Circular on Further Strengthening the Crackdown on Unlawful Transportation by the Excessively-long Automotive Carriers (the "Circular").
The Circular calls for efforts to: 1. ramp up regulation of loading from source; 2. carry out strict enforcement checks on road transport; 3. improve sharing of information on violations; and 4. take joint disciplinary actions at the credit level. Further, the Circular states that, competent transport authorities of all regions shall, pursuant to the provisions of the Regulations on the Protection of Road Safety, revoke the vehicle operation licenses of those automotive carriers caught unlawfully transporting autos beyond the limits for three times within one year, and order the drivers of automotive carriers caught unlawfully transporting vehicles beyond the limits for over three times in a year alone to cease the for-profit transportation; a vehicle logistics enterprise will be ordered to suspend business and take corrective actions if its automotive carriers involved in auto transport beyond the limits in a single year account for over 10% of its total freight vehicles; in case of a serious circumstance, the operating permit for road transportation will be revoked and the revocation will be publicly announced. Moreover, the Circular expressly states that, the MOT will provide information on dishonest business operators through the National Credit Information Sharing Platform, and the related departments will jointly take disciplinary actions against them in accordance with laws and regulations.