On Oct 21st, the National Railway Administration (NRA) of China published the draft of “Provisions on the Supervision and Administration of Safe Railway Transportation of Dangerous Goods”.
The Provisions were formulated in accordance with the Safe Production Law, Railway Law, Regulations on the Control over Safety of Railways (Decree 639), Regulations on the Control over Safety of Hazardous Chemicals (Decree 591) and other relevant laws and regulations. In this regulation, dangerous goods are defined as chemical substances and articles with specific hazardous properties including explosiveness, flammability, toxicity, infectivity, corrosiveness and radioactivity, which pose a high risk to human health, property and the environment. In practice, railway transport companies should refer to the “List of Dangerous Goods (GB 12268)” and other relevant regulations or standards to determine whether the goods fall into this scope
In addition to dangerous articles with production bans and transportation bans, super-reactive and self-reactive chemicals are also prohibited from railway transport if protective measures are not taken or not sufficient. Carriage of dangerous goods via high-speed rails, intercity rails and other railways specific for passengers is not allowed and instead require use of special railways, freight cars/trains and stations. Dangerous goods cannot be shipped in the same carload with other goods.
The consignor of dangerous goods transported by railway is obliged to deliver the required information to the transport company including name, quantity (weight) and hazard properties of the dangerous goods and emergency disposal measures. In the following situations, the consignor or consignee should submit relevant proof materials to the carrier. The carrier shoulders the responsibility of compliance check as well as archiving the records of official legal inspections
Documentation required:
Dangerous goods are subject to administrative licensing in terms of production, operation, storage and use;
A Transportation permit is required for certain goods according to China’s laws and regulations;
The transportation of certain goods requires the addition of stabilizers, inhibitors or other special treatments.
The packages and containers required for transportation is listed in China’s Inventory of Industrial Products Subject to Licensing System.
Other situations specified in China’s laws and regulations.
Comments can be submitted to nrayjzj@sina.com. The consultation period will end on Nov. 20th.
