China 2020 – National emergency ban on wildlife trade in markets and food venues
Government Policy
Expired
January 26, 2020
Summary
On 26 January 2020, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly issued a nationwide emergency notification prohibiting trade in wildlife “in any form” in agricultural produce markets, supermarkets, food and beverage sellers, and online sales platforms. The notification required closure of venues found operating wildlife trade in violation of the order, seizure and quarantine of related animals, and suspension of all wildlife trade in physical markets, food service venues, and e-commerce channels for the duration of the emergency. Wildlife breeding farms and transport enterprises supplying the food trade were to be quarantined and placed under strengthened supervision. The notification took immediate effect on 26 January 2020 and specified that the prohibition would remain in force “until the epidemic situation is resolved nationwide.” It was functionally superseded by the NPC Standing Committee Decision of 24 February 2020, which established a permanent legislative prohibition on terrestrial wild animal consumption — documented in a separate Development record. The 26 January notification is the first nationwide emergency suspension of wildlife trade following the outbreak of COVID-19.
Background Context
Before the notification, China’s Wildlife Protection Law and implementing regulations allowed commercial utilisation and captive breeding of many terrestrial wild species for food, subject to licensing. A large legal wildlife farming industry had developed, including commercial breeding of civets, bamboo rats, porcupines, and other terrestrial wild species for human consumption, with supply chains linking farms to markets and restaurants across China. In December 2019, a cluster of pneumonia cases later attributed to SARS-CoV-2 was epidemiologically linked to the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in Wuhan, which sold live wild animals. Wuhan authorities closed the Huanan market on 1 January 2020 and banned live animal trade at all markets in the city. Following recognition by central authorities of systemic vulnerabilities in wildlife market control, a nationwide emergency response was initiated. The 26 January notification served as the first central government response to halt wildlife trade across all commercial channels and created the regulatory stop-gap that the NPC Standing Committee later formalised into permanent legislation.
System Impact
Direction
Reduces Exploitation
Type
Alters Legal Basis
Significance
Moderate
Following issuance on 26 January 2020, official reports described nationwide closure and inspection of agricultural markets, supermarkets, and restaurants selling wildlife, with seizure and quarantine of animals found in covered venues. Wildlife breeding farms and transport operations supplying the food trade were placed under quarantine and strengthened supervision. Trade in wild animals through e-commerce platforms was suspended. Enforcement actions against illegal sales following the ban were reported by official channels, including confiscations and crackdowns on unauthorised market activity. The notification disrupted supply chains from wildlife breeding farms to consumer food markets and catering businesses across China’s provinces, autonomous regions, and centrally administered municipalities. On 24 February 2020, the NPC Standing Committee adopted a legislative Decision prohibiting terrestrial wild animal consumption on a permanent statutory basis, functionally superseding the emergency notification. No formal rescission date for the January notification has been identified in available sources; it appears to have been absorbed into the more durable legal framework established by the February Decision and subsequent legislative reforms.
Anticipated Effects
If implemented as written and consistently enforced during the emergency period, the notification would have prevented commercial sale of wild animals for food in the covered venues nationwide until the epidemic status was formally resolved, disrupting supply chains from wildlife farms to consumer markets and catering businesses.
If combined with the 24 February NPCSC Decision and subsequent revisions to the Wildlife Protection Law, the January emergency notification functions as the initial stage of a broader restructuring of legal wildlife utilisation for human consumption in China — moving from an immediate market halt to a permanent legal prohibition.
The extent to which exploitation of terrestrial wild animals for food shifted to informal channels, other legal uses such as traditional medicine, or reduced in net terms during the operative period is not established in available sources.
Significance Rationale
Assigned Reduces Exploitation (impact direction) because the notification suspended all commercial trade in wild animals for food across agricultural markets, supermarkets, restaurants, and online platforms nationwide, with documented closures of wildlife markets and quarantine of breeding farms during the operative period. The scale change is temporary: the notification was explicitly time-limited and operative for approximately four weeks before being superseded by the 24 February NPCSC Decision. Whether exploitation was reduced in net terms or shifted to informal channels during the emergency period is not established in available sources.
Assigned Alters Legal Basis (impact type) because the primary mechanism is the temporary legal change — the joint administrative notice changing what is legally permitted regarding wildlife trade in food markets and catering venues for the duration of the emergency. The scale contraction during the operative period is conditional on enforcement compliance.
Assigned Moderate significance because the notification is time-limited (approximately four weeks of operative period before supersession), operates below the level of formal legislation, and is most significant as the precursor instrument that triggered the more durable structural change implemented by the 24 February NPCSC Decision. Within its operative period, the geographic scope is nationwide and the channel disruption is documented.
Within The System
Key Actors
The notification was jointly issued by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), and the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). Local branches of NFGA were responsible for supervision of terrestrial wildlife and permits; market regulation bureaus under SAMR were responsible for inspection and enforcement in markets, supermarkets, catering services, and online commerce; public security organs handled criminal violations. Operators of agricultural produce markets, supermarkets, food and beverage sellers, online sales platforms, and wildlife breeding farms and transport enterprises were the directly regulated commercial entities. The NPC Standing Committee issued the subsequent 24 February Decision that superseded the emergency notification. Research and advocacy organisations including the Wildlife Conservation Society, Environmental Investigation Agency, and Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime documented the notification and its implications.
Editorial Correction Notice
Current status: The notification was explicitly time-limited (“until the epidemic situation is resolved nationwide”) with no formal rescission date identified in available sources. It is classified as Expired on the basis that it was functionally superseded by the 24 February 2020 NPCSC Decision, which established a permanent legislative prohibition. The formal legal relationship between the January notification and the February Decision — whether the notification was formally rescinded or simply absorbed — requires verification against authoritative Chinese-language government legal sources.
Development type: Classified as Government Policy rather than Law & Regulation because the notification is a joint administrative instrument issued by three ministerial-level agencies, not an act of the legislature (NPCSC) or a State Council regulation with formal legislative status. The February Decision is the Law & Regulation record for this sequence.
Scale & Prevalence: China’s wildlife farming industry prior to the ban has been estimated at approximately 520 billion yuan (approximately USD 74 billion) across multiple uses; only a portion relates directly to food-trade animals affected by this notification. Specific counts of animals or facilities affected by the January emergency notice are not provided in primary government texts. Available figures are sector-wide estimates from media and NGO analyses.
Related records: The 24 February 2020 NPCSC Decision on terrestrial wild animal consumption — the permanent legislative instrument that superseded this notification — is documented in a separate Development record. The January notification is the precursor emergency measure in the China wildlife sequence.
Affected animals: The notification covers terrestrial wild animals traded in food markets broadly — species such as civets (added as a representative species), bamboo rats, porcupines, pangolins, and others. Most of these species don’t have Animals CPT records in the current database. Unlike the 24 February NPCSC Decision, the January notification does not trigger species reclassification that would connect specific wild species. As the Animals CPT expands to cover additional exploited species, this field should be updated.
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