ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 deals with the adjustments in the regulatory framework of the Chinese Rare Earths sector. First, the regulatory measures in the period before the Global Financial Crisis are reviewed. Second, it is discussed why the GFC has given the impetus for new adjustments in the regulatory framework. Then, the implemented measures concerning the structure of the domestic REEs sectors, the trade regime for REEs and environmental standards and their impact on market power, price-setting power and global welfare, and consequently on the resource policy of the main consumer countries in the rest of the world are analyzed. Finally, the implications of the implemented regulatory measures of China and the implemented countermeasures of the rest of the world (paradigm shifts in national resource policies, efforts in exploration and development of new deposits for primary mining, research for recycling, reuse and reduce opportunities and a joint complaint before the World Trade Organization) for the optimal Hotelling extraction path are highlighted.
