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On July 18, 2019, the Bureau of Emergency Management of Guangzhou Municipality released a notice to consult on the Catalogue of Prohibited, Restricted, and Controlled Hazardous Chemicals (Trial) [1]. The consultation is set to end on July 30, 2019.
The Catalogue comprises four parts. In the first part, “General Provisions”, it specifies rules concerning regulatory responsibilities, businesses’ responsibilities, risk information disclosure, use and transport of hazardous chemicals, etc.
The second part lists 145 hazardous chemicals which are to be banned from production, storage, operations, transport, and use within the jurisdiction of Guangzhou. Where some of them are exempt in specific industries pursuant to state regulations, such regulations shall prevail.
It is noted that, with several exceptions, newly built hazardous chemical construction projects and expansions of such projects are prohibited outside hazardous chemical concentration zones (chemical parks) and loading and unloading bases of hazardous chemicals. Meanwhile, except those launched to support certain key projects or cater to demands for circular operations, any newly built production and construction projects involving nitrification or hydrogenation processes is prohibited.
The third part includes 606 hazardous chemicals which are subject to restrictions and control measures. More specifically, such substances are allowed only to be used, transported, wholesaled and distributed during production processes in Guangzhou’s central area; while outside the central area, the production, storage, use, transport, and operations of such substances are permitted. Unlisted hazardous chemicals can only be circulated in the central area in the form of reagents compliant with national standards. It is specially stated that these restrictions and control measures do not apply to chemicals like petrol and diesel which are crucial to national economy and people’s livelihood as well as industrial gases.
Moreover, stringent approval procedures or restraints are exercised over chemical processes subject to key regulation, highly hazardous chemical construction projects, and quantity of hazardous chemicals.
Notably, the fourth part of the Catalogue provides that hazardous chemical reagents are exempt and can be stored, used, or transported as needed, as long as they conform to relevant administrative regulations on security of hazardous chemicals.
Besides Guangzhou, many of China’s local governments have been gearing up for catalogue-based regulation of hazardous chemicals. For more information, see CL News. [2]
