In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China and for a long time, China has been implementing a strict system of "unified collection and distribution" for gold, prohibiting any form of market transactions. 1The Regulations on the Administration of Gold and Silver promulgated in June 1983 is the legal document of the policy of "unified purchase and distribution" of gold. The Regulations on the Administration of Gold and Silver clearly stipulates that the People's Bank of China shall uniformly handle the purchase and distribution of gold, set the purchase and distribution price of gold, uniformly manage the import and export of gold, and be responsible for approving the production, processing, wholesale, retail and processing of gold. That is to say, under the system arrangement of "unified collection and distribution", all gold and silver purchases are undertaken by the People's Bank of China; In need of gold and silver, the people's Bank of China shall uniformly approve the supply. In other words, individuals and institutions are strictly prohibited from buying and selling gold, let alone importing and exporting gold. Only the People's Bank of China buys and sells gold on behalf of the country, and gold is strictly subject to unified purchase and marketing, and the price is subject to unified national pricing.

In the past, the relevant regulations of China's central bank clearly pointed out that individuals were only allowed to carry 50 grams of gold when leaving the country, and the prison term for private transactions was 5 years. The entry and exit gold management is very strict, and semi-finished gold trading over 50 grams is regarded as smuggling. Artificial gold jewelry carried by individuals is generally not included. But if the quantity is too large, it will be inspected. Therefore, in addition to reasonable personal jewelry, you can't take gold out of the country.

In the 1980s, the jewelry market was gradually liberalized, and gold jewelry could be processed with imported materials and sold abroad.

Before 2003, only the People's Bank of China was qualified to import gold. That is, overseas gold can only enter the China market through the People's Bank of China. Therefore, this is a semi-closed and semi-market channel.

In March 2003, one year after the opening of the gold market in China, with the approval of the central bank and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, four state-owned commercial banks, namely Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank, were granted the right to import and export gold. However, according to the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Relevant Issues Concerning the Verification of Gold Import and Export Receipts and Payments by Commercial Banks (Huifa [2003] No.93), the import and export rights must still be implemented by the central bank.

The four major state-owned commercial banks are all first-class members of the Shanghai Gold Exchange, and they have various qualifications such as buying and selling gold as agents. Therefore, after their gold import and export business, the overseas gold they bought can enter the domestic market through the Shanghai Gold Exchange. Since the opening of the 5438+1October 3 1 Shanghai Gold Exchange in June 2002, the domestic gold price has soared, far higher than the international market price per gram. After the four banks carry out import and export business, they can not only introduce foreign gold resources, but also help the domestic gold price to connect with the international market price as soon as possible.

Subsequently, six enterprises, including China Jewelry Import and Export Corporation, were approved by the central bank and became the first enterprises to import gold and gold inlaid jewelry. However, the central bank has strict regulations on specific import methods and products.

65438. On February 20th, 2005, the People's Bank of China (hereinafter referred to as the "Central Bank") published the draft of the Measures for the Administration of Import and Export of Gold Products (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comment").

From June 20, 2005 to February 20, 2005, the draft of the Measures for the Administration of Import and Export of Gold Products has not been published. The import and export management policy of gold products is in a stalemate.