The Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances in China (IECSC) 2010 is the latest update of the List of Existing Chemical Substances Manufactured or Imported in China which had been published in 2003 in line with the SEPA Order 17, the predecessor of MEP Order 7. The IECSC has included chemical substances manufactured, processed, sold, used or imported inside Chinese mainland between 1 January 1992 and 15 October 2003. Chemical substance not listed in IECSC are identified as new chemical substances under China new chemical substance notification. Substances subject to this inventory are any organic or inorganic substances that have specific molecular marks, including:

1. Substances generated as a whole or in part from the results of a chemical reaction, or any compounds of naturally occurring substances;

2. Any element or uncombined atomic cluster. A chemical substance can be any element, compound (including the additives or impurities contained within), by-product, reaction intermediate, or polymer, but excluding mixtures, preparations and articles. It likewise excludes the following substances that are subject to the control of other relevant authorities:

• pesticides (when produced, processed, imported or sold as pesticides);

• tobacco and tobacco products;

• radioactive materials;

• military products;

• food, food additives, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics (when produced, processed, imported or sold as food, food additives, pharmaceuticals or cosmetics).

The IECSC has undergone 9 revisions of (supplementary) listing of new chemical substances based on the original 1995 edition.

The latest IECSC 2010 contains in total 45,602 substances, among which 3,166 are marked as confidential and 42,436 available on public; 37,427 substances have CAS numbers and 8,175 have not and are coded with machine serial no. instead; 32,793 substances have identified chemical structural formulae and 12,809 have not.

The inventory will be updated on a regular basis by the Chinese MEP.