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China’s National People’s Congress reviewed and passed the reform plan of the governmental branches in March. With the implementation of the reform plan, the former Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) has been replaced by the newly established Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE). Additionally, the former State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) was replaced by the new Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM). However, in the past half year, in practical terms the largescale institutional reform has not as yet occasioned any big changes to work duties, compliance requirements and general market access requirements.
Recently, the State Council released the detailed information of the functions, subordinate divisions, and staff allocation of MEM (应急管理部职能配置、内设机构和人员编制规定). This means that the restructuring of the former SAWS is almost complete. MEM will take more responsibilities such as the management of all kinds of emergencies (including both production accidents and natural calamities), the management of fire prevention, the management of the earthquake department, etc.
Besides the management of production safety, management of hazardous chemicals is also a priority task. According to the released document, a new division called “Division of Safety Supervision and Management of Hazardous Chemicals (危险化学品安全监督管理司)” would be established. This could be the direct competent authority in charge of the current National Registration Center of Chemicals (NRCC, 化学品登记中心). A specific division for hazardous chemicals indicates that MEM will place a higher priority on the management of hazardous chemicals, including the registration of hazardous chemicals, manufacture and operation licensing, etc.
