China’s national legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC) recently released the five-year legislative plan for its current term (the 14th) ending in 2028. The plan places projects in 3 categories, which includes a total of 130 specific legislative projects and some projects that are still in their infancy.
Category I - Draft laws that have reached a relatively advanced stage of legislative work and are scheduled for submission and deliberation during the current term. (79 projects)
Category II - Draft laws that should be worked on without delay and are to be submitted for deliberation at a suitable time. (51 projects)
Category III - Legislative projects without complete legislative conditions and for which continuing research and discussions are needed. (E.g., laws on conserving important river basins, addressing climate change, achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality, etc.)
Notably, the Law on Safety of Hazardous Chemicals, a legislation poised to regulate China’s hazardous chemicals in place of Decree 591, is placed in Category I. It means that the 14th NPCSC aims to enact this law by the end of 2028, showing its ambition in the legislation work regarding the safety of hazardous chemicals. However, according to the State Council’s 2023 legislative work plan, it appears that the legislative work of this law maintains the same status as last year (CL news), i.e., proposing to submit the draft for deliberation. There may be a sudden acceleration once relatively complete conditions are met.
ChemLinked will keep an eye on the updates of the legislation progress regarding hazardous chemicals. Please stay tuned.
