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On May 7, 2020, China’s MEE, MIIT, and NHC jointly released for public feedback the draft Inventory of Priority Controlled Chemicals (Second Batch) [1]. The draft inventory proposes to add 19 kinds of chemicals to the inventory of chemicals subject to priority control measures. Comments are required to be submitted in written form before May 31, 2020.
In China, the designation “priority control chemical” refers to a chemical substance that is highly hazardous to the environment or health, may exist for a long time in the environment, and may pose unreasonable risks to the ecosystem and human health. The first batch of the Inventory of Priority Controlled Chemicals [2] was issued in December of 2018, which included 22 kinds of chemicals. Based on the chemicals in the first batch, and the information on hazards and exposure data of chemicals which is solicited by MEE, the following factors are considered when screening substances subject to the priority control measures:
The environmental properties of the chemical, such as persistent, bioaccumulative, etc.;
The environmental and health hazard of the chemical, such as aquatic environment toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, and specific target organ repeated exposure toxicity, etc.;
The environmental exposure circumstances of the chemical, especially the chemicals that are mass manufactured and used in China.
Other factors, including chemical management frameworks used in developed countries or outlined in international environmental conventions.
In accordance with relevant laws and regulations, especially those on prevention and management of pollutants, the priority controlled chemicals shall be managed by at least one of the following measures to minimize the significant impacts on health and environment from the chemical production and use:
Included in the List of Toxic and Hazardous Atmospheric Pollutants, List of Toxic and Hazardous Water Pollutants, or List of Focused Toxic and Hazardous Soil Pollutant, and managed by the corresponding laws;
Managed by the cleaner production review and information disclosure system, which must be conducted for the enterprises who use toxic and hazardous chemicals in producing;
They are managed by the restriction measures, including restricting use or encouraging replacement.
Although the number of priority controlled chemicals is still small, they play an important role in China’s prevention and management framework for pollutants. Specifically, after the issuance of the first batch of priority controlled chemicals, the List of Toxic and Hazardous Air Pollutants [3] and List of Hazardous Toxic and Water Pollutants [4] were released one after the other in 2019. Most of the pollutants in the two lists are the priority controlled chemicals. Therefore, for the enterprises involved in priority controlled chemicals, they may face stricter and more frequent environmental supervision by the authority.
