What is the “grace period” for complying with the Measures on the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances? Mr. Nie, CRC-MEP Director, confirmed the following:
Only three specific circumstances under Order No. 7 will benefit from the grace period:
New chemical substances manufactured or imported in Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and Free Trade Zone (FTZ) before 15th Oct. 2010 and;
New chemical substances intended to be released from articles which are manufactured or imported before 15th Oct. 2010 and;
Raw materials and intermediate products related to new chemicals listed in article 2 of Order No.7 which are also manufactured or imported before 15th Oct. 2010.
Industries that conform to the above three conditions will have a transitional period to complete China New Chemical Substance Notification (China REACH), with a deadline of 15th Oct. 2011. This deadline is 1 year since Order No. 7 came into force. There will be no other further approvals for other countries’ chemical industries, even if they are not in EPZ/FTZ.