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“Regulations on the Safe management of Hazardous Chemicals” (also called Decree 591) was published, on 2nd March 2011. Recently, Legal Affairs Office of the State Council and General Administration of Quality Supervision responsible officials answered the questions about the revised regulation.
Question 1. Why did the “Regulations on the Safe management of Hazardous Chemicals” Need to be Revised?
Answer: The current version of “Regulations on the Safe management of Hazardous Chemicals” has been implemented since 15th March 2002. In recent years, some new situations and new problems were presented on the safe management of hazardous chemicals. First, the State Council carried out the institutional reform twice in 2003 and 2008 respectively. The responsibilities division of the relevant departments on management of hazardous chemicals has changed. Second, some weaknesses have been exposed on the management of hazardous chemcials, for example, more accidents occurred in the enterprises which use hazardous chemicals in production, the public safety problems are serious while the hazardous chemicals are used to manufacture explosives. Third, the Law-enforcement in practice reflects that the current system is not mature enough, for example, the penalty authorities relating to certain unlawful acts are not clear enough. The penalties for certain unlawful acts do not fully justify the hazardous degree of the acts. The purpose of the modificaton is to adapt the regulations to these new situations and problems, and effectively enhance the safe management of the hazardous chemicals.
Question 2. How do the revised regulations reflect the changes in the responsibilities and division of labor between the relevant departments?
Answer: There are three main changes: first, “General Administration of Economic and Trade", “Ministry of Econmic and Trade", “General Administration of Safety Supervision on Hazardous Chemical” in the current version are integrated into” Administration of Work Safety”. Second, the provisions of the Administration of Economic and Trade being responsible for the examination of the companies who manufacture the wrappages and the containers of the hazardous chemicals, are revised as the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) being responsible for the issue of the industrial production certification for those companies. Third, it is explicitly stipulated that the Competent Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and the relevant departments are responsible for the industry planning and layout about the manufacture and storage of the dangerous chemicals.
The governments above the county level should establish the coordination mechanisms on supervision and management of hazardous chemicals, in order to support and urge relevant departments to perform their duties, coordinate and solve the major problems during the supervision and management of hazardous chemicals.
Question 3. What are the main considerations for safe use certification of hazardous chemicals? Do all enterprise using hazardous chemicals need to obtain certification?
Answer: Not all the legal entities which use the hazardous chemicals need to obtain the certification. It’s not feasible and necessary due to the big amount of the companies and the differences between the quantities, the way to be used and the degree of the hazard. So the scope of the certification to be issued is specified within the chemical enterprises which are engaged in manufacturing, and the usage amount of the dangerous chemicals achieves the specified quantity. As for the specified quantity, it has not been specified in the regulations yet, General Administration of safety Supervision will lay down the specific usage amount standard with the relevant departments.
Taking into account the situation that some chemical enterprises who use the hazardous chemicals also belong to hazardous chemicals production enterprises, these enterprises need to obtain the safety production certification for the hazardous chemicals in accordance with the provisions, in order to avoid duplication of certification which will increase the burden of the enterprises, the regulation explicitly stipulated that the hazardous chemicals production enterprises are not required to obtain the safe use certification for the hazardous chemicals.
Question 4. In terms of strengthening the safe management of hazardous chemicals, what provisions were revised and improved ? Will the business certification system continue to be implemented?
Answer: It is proved by the practice that the systems and the measures on current hazardous chemicals business safety are relatively feasible. In order to further strengthen the safe management of hazardous chemicals, the modifications explicitly included the storage of hazardous chemicals into the scope of hazardous chemicals management on basis of the actual situation, filled the institutional gap, and meanwhile the conditions to obtain the business certification of the hazardous chemicals will become stricter.
The system of hazardous chemicals business certificate will continue to be implemented. The difference is that the modification specifies that the counties and the municipalities are entitled to examine and approve the certifications, considering the large amount of enterprises involved in hazardous chemicals business. It will be more convenient and feasible for enterprises and relevant departments. Furthermore, the administrative departments of the safety production supervision in the counties and municipalities had already improved the organization structuring, which are capable of issuing and management of the hazardous chemicals business certificatation.
Question 5. Can the road transportation permits of highly toxic chemicals be processed in the Public Security Departments in the transport place of origin?
Answer: According to the current provisions, the shipper can only apply for the road transportation permit of highly toxic chemicals in the county level of Public Security Departments in the transport destination. But in practice, quite a few shippers’ dwellings are located in the starting place of the transport, they have to make a round trip in order to get the permit. In order to solve this problem, the modification explicitly stipulated that the shipper can also apply for the transport permit in the Public Security Departments in the transport starting place. The revised version also specified that the time limit for examination and approval by the Public Security Departments can’t exceed 7days, because problems raised by the enterprises are that there is no time limit for processing the permit and the waiting period is usually too long.
Question 6. Which hazardous chemicals are allowed to be transported in the inland waterway ? Which are prohibited? How to ensure the safety of the hazardous chemicals which are transported in inland water?
Answer: According to the opinions collected from various sectors, a mechanism was established to determine which kinds of hazardous chemicals are prohibitted by inland water transportation. Based on the hazardous properties of the highly toxic chemicals and the mechanism of the toxic effect, the State Council will organize the experts to conduct strict risk assessment. For those hazardous chemicals which are relatively stable in water and pose no great hazard or have no great hazard to the water environment once reacted with water are permitted to be transported through the inland waterway only when the strict measures are taken to ensure the safe transportation. The vast majorities of other highly toxic chemicals and hazardous chemicals which do not meet the criteria of the highly toxic chemicals but have great toxicity for water environment are strictly prohibited to be transported in the inland waterway. The Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and General Administration of Safety Supervision are involved in determination of the scope of the embargoes, through their examination and verification from different perspectives. Once the scope of the embargoes were established, the list will be published by the authorities.
While the limitation on transport of hazardous chemicals in non-enclosed inland waters has been relaxed, the relevant safe management measures should keep in pace to ensure the safe transportation of hazardous chemicals in the inland water.
Thus, the regulation has further strengthened the safe management of the hazardous chemicals through the qualification of the transportation agency, the safety condition of the vessels, special terminal and berth, the types of shipping of the various hazardous chemicals, packaging specification and the safe precaution measures, the caution symbols on the vessels which carry the hazardous chemicals and the management of vessels entering and leaving the port.
