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The China session of ChemCon conference was held on Jun 20th, 2019 in Seoul. Speeches were given by professionals in the field of China’s chemical management, including Ms. Penny Peng and Mr. Matt Lyu from REACH24H Consulting Group, Mr. Allen Yang from Verisk 3E and Mr. Tom Zhang from P&G.
The China session kicked off with a presentation delivered by Ms. Penny Peng on the overview of regulations on the management of chemical substances and updates on the proposed simplified new chemical substances notification scheme. She reminded that MEP Order 7 is under revision and the proposed amendments will be issued for public consultation soon. The management and notification procedures of new chemicals will probably be simplified.
Next present at this session was Mr. Allen Yang. In his presentation, Mr. Yang briefly introduced the current status of new chemical notification in China. Then he gave examples involving repeat notification, serial notification, typical notification of polymer, test waiving, etc. and outlined his practical recommendations using case studies. Mr. Yang suggested potential registrants to make use of available data to save money, reduce animal testing and carry out tier by tier testing strategies to waive unnecessary testing.
Mr. Tom Zhang’s presentation was about industry perspectives on the new draft State Council level regulation on chemical environmental risk assessment and management. The draft regulation was published in Jan 2019 and covers both existing and new chemicals involving basic information reporting, environmental risk screening, exposure monitoring and investigation, risk assessment and management. It is not a REACH-like system and the authority will lead risk assessment for prioritized chemicals. MEE will lead multiple ministries to develop and publish priority controlled chemical list, designate the strictly restricted chemicals and the banned chemicals if adequate risk mitigation measures cannot be developed.
In addition, Mr. Zhang outlined ongoing efforts made by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) in China’s Chemicals Management Plan (CMP program) and expounded specific goals and the implementation schedule. For example, by 2020 the authority will complete the pilot risk assessment of 10 priority chemicals. No less than 50 chemicals will be assessed by 2025 and if everything goes according to plan, 200 chemicals by 2035. As for the government capacity development, a national database for chemical risk assessment will be established, as well as two national labs to undertake computational toxicology and chemical test/evaluation.
For the last presentation in the China session, Mr. Matt Lyu shared his personal insights and a large volume of useful information. He described how chemicals are categorized and regulated in China, e.g. new chemicals, hazardous chemicals, highly toxic chemicals, hazardous chemicals for explosives making, precursor chemicals, etc. The presentation stressed the idea of having clear understanding and knowledge of regulations in China. As we all know the regulation of chemicals in China is relatively complicated and difficult to deal with. Regulations are updated dynamically. The different regions in China and the local government also have powers and different priorities. In addition, industry are now struggling with round after round of government safety inspection, precipitated by several high profile chemical accidents. All these things combined cause challenges in sound chemical management.
As Dr. Caroline Li from ExxonMobil mentioned in the first day of ChemCon, a strong regulatory framework on paper doesn’t equal strong practical implementation by authorities. Over the last several years, there have been many chemical accidents causing major loss of life and long-term negative impact. Industry should still prioritize the fundamentals and ensure that site safety, SDS, labelling, GHS classification are truly implemented, workers and the public are well trained and safety culture developed.
