By a notice issued on 13 October 2023, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) made public the statistics on the new chemical substance record notifications in the first half of 2023. In total of 2,384 record notifications were received, covering more than 11,000 new chemical substances. The details can be accessed here, including the applicant (and its representative agent), time, receipt number, and the amount of new chemical substances recorded.
Under MEE Order No. 12, new chemicals manufactured or imported in quantities below 1 ton per year, polymers containing less than 2% of a new chemical monomer/recant or PLCs are subject to record notification. Notably, there’s no approval for record notification, which means that businesses can start relevant activities immediately after submitting application materials and receiving the receipt sent via the online registration system.
However, in practice, it doesn’t mean that obligations under record notification are that easy to fulfill. The MEE will conduct spot checks of the submitted materials. The applicants in question will be asked to provide materials for supplementary or correction. If applicants fail to provide the required materials within the limited period, the record notification receipts will be revoked, and the corresponding activities will be ordered to cease.
