Plastic shopping bags are consumables in daily life, and China consumes a lot of plastic shopping bags every year. Plastic shopping bags not only provide convenience for consumers, but also cause serious waste of energy resources and environmental pollution due to excessive use and insufficient recycling. In particular, ultra-thin plastic shopping bags are easily damaged and most of them are discarded at will, which has become the main source of "white pollution". More and more countries and regions restrict the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags. In order to implement Scientific Outlook on Development and build a resource-saving and environment-friendly society, we will take effective measures from the source to urge enterprises to produce durable and recyclable plastic shopping bags, guide and encourage people to use plastic shopping bags reasonably, promote comprehensive utilization of resources, protect the ecological environment and further promote energy conservation and emission reduction. With the consent of the State Council, we hereby notify relevant matters such as strictly restricting the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags as follows:

1. It is forbidden to produce, sell or use ultra-thin plastic shopping bags.

From June 1 2008, the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags with a thickness less than 0.025mm (hereinafter referred to as ultra-thin plastic shopping bags) are prohibited nationwide. The Development and Reform Commission should promptly revise the guidance catalogue for industrial restructuring and include ultra-thin plastic shopping bags in the catalogue of obsolete products. The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine should speed up the revision of the national standards for plastic shopping bags, formulate eye-catching product labels for qualified plastic shopping bags, study and popularize quick and simple detection methods for plastic shopping bags, and urge enterprises to organize production in strict accordance with national standards to ensure the quality of plastic shopping bags.

Two, the implementation of plastic shopping bags paid use system.

Supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other retail places are the places where plastic shopping bags are most concentrated, and most of them provide plastic shopping bags free of charge. In order to guide people to use plastic shopping bags reasonably and economically, since June, 2008, all supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other retail places have implemented the system of paid use of plastic shopping bags, and plastic shopping bags are not allowed to be provided free of charge. Retail places must clearly mark plastic shopping bags, charge the price of plastic shopping bags in addition to the price of goods, and may not provide them free of charge or merge the price of plastic shopping bags with the total price of goods. The Ministry of Commerce shall, jointly with the Development and Reform Commission, formulate specific management measures for the paid use of plastic shopping bags in commodity retail places, and conscientiously implement them, so as to gradually form a market environment for the paid use of plastic shopping bags.

Three, strengthen the supervision and inspection of limited production and sales of plastic shopping bags.

Quality inspection departments should establish a product quality supervision mechanism for plastic shopping bag manufacturers. For those who continue to illegally produce ultra-thin plastic shopping bags, or fail to affix (print) the product identification of qualified plastic shopping bags as required, and have other illegal acts, they shall be ordered to stop production, confiscate the illegally produced products, confiscate the illegal income, and impose a fine according to the People's Republic of China (PRC) Product Quality Law and other laws and regulations. It is necessary to improve quality supervision measures, strengthen law enforcement, and strictly implement the systems of exposure, recall, rectification and punishment.

The industrial and commercial departments should strengthen the supervision and inspection of the sales and use of plastic shopping bags in supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars and other retail places, and investigate and deal with the illegal sales and use of ultra-thin plastic shopping bags according to the People's Republic of China (PRC) Product Quality Law and other laws and regulations. Commercial retail establishments should strengthen the management of the sales and use of plastic shopping bags in the market, and urge merchants to sell and use qualified plastic shopping bags. Plastic shopping bag sales enterprises shall establish a purchase and sale ledger system to prevent unqualified plastic shopping bags from entering the market.

Passenger trains, passenger ships, buses, planes, stations, airports and tourist attractions are not allowed to provide ultra-thin plastic shopping bags (packaging bags) to passengers and tourists, and the competent departments of railways, transportation, civil aviation and tourism should earnestly perform their duties of supervision and inspection.

Fourth, improve the recycling level of waste plastics.

The sanitation department should speed up the classified collection and treatment of domestic garbage, and effectively reduce the amount of waste plastics mixed with garbage incineration or landfill. The competent department of waste material recycling should strengthen the management of waste plastic recycling, guide and support material recycling enterprises to establish and improve recycling outlets, make full use of price levers and provide quality services to promote the recycling of waste plastics, vigorously promote large-scale sorting and grading utilization, and give full play to the efficiency of plastic resources.

The environmental protection department should strengthen the environmental supervision of plastic recycling process, formulate environmental access conditions, pollution control standards and technical specifications and supervise their implementation, and establish an environmental management system for the whole process of waste plastics from recycling, transportation, storage to reuse.

Science and technology departments should increase their support for the research and development of waste plastics treatment and disposal technology, develop and popularize technologies and products that improve the added value of waste plastics utilization, and improve the level of waste plastics resource utilization.

The financial and tax departments should study and formulate tax policies to curb waste plastic pollution as soon as possible, use tax levers to regulate the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags, and support and encourage the development of waste plastic comprehensive utilization industry.

Five, vigorously create a good atmosphere to limit the production and sale of plastic shopping bags.

In combination with activities such as Environment Day and Energy Conservation Publicity Week, we will make full use of various media such as radio and television, newspapers and magazines, and the Internet, and adopt an easy-to-understand way to focus on choosing places such as communities, villages, schools, supermarkets, shopping malls, bazaars, stations, airports, tourist attractions, etc., to widely publicize the harm of "white pollution" and the significance of restricting the production and sales of plastic shopping bags, so as to improve the general public and production.

Advocate carrying cloth bags, revisiting shopping baskets, reusing durable shopping bags, reducing the use of plastic bags, guiding enterprises to simplify commodity packaging, actively selecting green packaging bags, encouraging enterprises and social forces to provide reusable shopping bags such as cloth bags for the masses free of charge, and creating a good atmosphere for controlling the use of plastic shopping bags.

Six, strengthen the responsibility of the local people's government and the relevant departments of the State Council.

Local people's governments at all levels are responsible for restricting the production, sale and use of plastic shopping bags in their own areas. We should attach great importance to it, strengthen leadership, make careful arrangements, carefully organize various functional departments to formulate specific measures, and do a good job in implementation. The departments of development and reform, commerce, quality inspection, industry and commerce should perform their respective duties, work together and cooperate closely to ensure that all measures to restrict production, sales and use are put in place. It is necessary to strengthen administrative supervision and law enforcement supervision and inspection, conscientiously implement the law enforcement responsibility system, and strengthen the responsibilities of local people's governments at all levels and relevant departments in the State Council. In case of administrative omission and ineffective law enforcement, the main responsible persons of relevant competent departments and law enforcement agencies and relevant responsible persons shall be investigated in accordance with the Administrative Licensing Law of People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China.