Orange Laws: Illegal Recycling?

Front CoverI've written already about "orange laws", so I will make this quick.

China can ban the color orange.    They can arrest people for wearing orange.  There was a threat to silently protest Tianaman Square during the Olympics in 2008 by telling everyone in the crowd to wear orange.  People honestly thought they'd be arrested...

China is a sovereign, they can make laws and we cannot change them.  However, it's a mistake to incorporate a CHINA law into USA export law.  

R2 Draft 2013 commits this error, by saying that any export must be legal in both countries.   They should say any WASTE product.  China can (and does) outlaw tested working Pentium 4, 2 week old, laptops to be imported used.  It's a protectionist law which is actually illegal under the WTO (China agreed to the Doha Round eliminating protectionism against fully functional and cores).

If the USA simply says "if it's illegal in China, it's not allowed", and then a state like Vermont incorporates (mandates) R2, then it becomes a criminal act for me in Vermont to sell an orange shirt to China... or a fully functional laptop.

Or used books...

Exporting for Dummies
Or printed recycled paper.

Because China bans distribution of a lot of things in writing.

And I cannot go through every book in this lot, sold on Alibaba, to see if there's a copy of the Dalai Lama's book in there.   Its a 43,000 lb. lot.  If His Holiness the Dalai Lama's book is in there, I have violated China's laws, and therefore can be arrested for violating R2, which is Vermont law...


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