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China MEP promulgated Order 22

On 10 Oct, 2012, Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) promulgated the MEP Order No 22, "Measures for the Environmental Management of Hazardous Chemicals Registration (Trial)", which will take effect on 1 Mar 2013. Companies of new chemical substances and importers/exporters of toxic chemicals have already been required to register with the MEP for environmental management. Starting 1 Mar 2013, HC companies shall obtain registration certification for environmental management from the MEP. Furthermore, companies of high environmental concern chemicals are additionally required to conduct the environment risk assessment and inform the release, migration and control measures of their high concerned HCs.

The trial measures are formulated in line with the State Council Decree No.591 (Regulations on the Control Over Safety of Hazardous Chemicals), which was built upon a complex regulatory network involving more than ten departments or ministries such as the Ministry of Industry and the Information Technology (MIIT), the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP).

The Trial measures shares some legislative content in common with the "Measures for the Administration of Hazardous Chemical Registration" (SAWS Order No 53), which came into force on August 1st, 2012. Both measures are regarded as the supporting legislative documents under the Decree 591. However, more emphasis on emission (hazard exposure) and migration reporting system for the hazardous chemicals of priority environmental concern (HCPEC) has been drawn up in the trial measures.

The measures stipulated that manufacturers and the users of the hazardous chemicals, which are listed in the C&L Inventory, shall submit the application and dossiers of environmental management registration to their local environmental protection authorities.

Required dossier documents are as follows:

• Hazardous Chemical Environmental Management Registration Application Form;  with general information about the applicant, i.e. the company, company location, category, amount, classification, purpose, HC use pattern, SDS, risk prevention measures,  typical pollutants emissions;

• Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report approval document;

• Emergency contingency plans;

• Environmental monitoring report, both the report generated by the applicant or the qualified environmental monitoring agency are acceptable

Registration certification for environmental management of HCs will be issued to the applicants if the submission is successful. Similar to the practice in hazardous chemicals registration, which was implemented by the NRCC-SAWS, the certification for environmental management has a validation period of 3 years. New construction, rebuilding and expansion of the HC manufacturing or use infrastructure shall apply for the certification prior to their completion. The registered manufacturers and users are required to release their annual report to the public every January, and the annual report must contain the category, hazardous properties, pollutant emissions, pollutant discharges, incidents, and pollutant control measures of their HC-related operations.

The MEP will formulate the "Catalogue of Hazardous Chemicals of Priority Environmental Concern" (HCPEC) based on the hazard properties and environmental risk levels of the hazardous chemicals. If the hazardous chemicals were included in the HCHEC list, the manufacturers and the users shall additionally entrust competent agencies to compose an environmental risk assessment (ERA) report, and the ERA conducting agencies will be responsible for the reporting results. Furthermore, the HCPEC registrants must further report to the authorities annually about the emission, migration and monitoring result of particular pollutants, as well as their control measures over the pollutants and the environmental risk.

Importers/exporters of the HCs included in the "List of Toxic Chemicals Severely Restricted for Import and Export in China (2012)"shall apply for the environmental management registration on HCs as well. In addition to the application form of the import/export registration, the certification of environmental management issued to the manufacturer/user shall be submitted to environmental protection authorities.

Any companies caught producing or using HCs without a registration certification, or engaged in any illegal activities, will be subject to fines ranging from 10,000 to 5,000 Yuan. Other penalties may be imposed as well.

If you want to track whether the substance of your concern is covered by the List of Toxic Chemicals Severely Restricted for Import and Export in China (2012), please enter  Chemlinked Inventory Toolbox

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