On November 10, 2019, the People’s Government of Dafeng District, Yancheng City published three notices, announcing that three chemical companies in its jurisdiction (including Jiangsu Huifeng Bio Agriculture Co., Ltd. [1], Jiangsu Haixing Chemical Co., Ltd. [2] and Jiangsu Haili Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. [3]) are applying for municipal-level review of their production resumption. They were closed following the Xiangshui explosion which killed at least 78 and injured hundreds on March 21 this year (see ChemLinked news [4]).
According to a notice issued in late August to provide the procedure for production resumption of chemical manufacturers subject to shutdown and rectification in Yancheng, chemical enterprises which have halted work for three months need to go through a six-step procedure so as to start producing again. The six steps include:
Submission of application for production resumption
Preliminary review by the administrative committee of a chemical park (for businesses located outside chemical parks, they need to conduct self-examinations and prepare relevant documents and submit them to county-level governments or any authority designated by such governments)
On-site acceptance
Municipal-level review of application for production resumption
Production resumption
Follow-up examinations (within 30 days after production restarts)
As long as the three enterprises can gain approval from the municipal authorities, they will be allowed to reopen. Notably, they will not be the first to be certified, as earlier on October 21 Jiangsu Fengshan Group Co., Ltd. [5] announced that it has passed the municipal-level review, and its technical production restarted four days later.
In the wake of the deadly blast, Jiangsu Province has pledged to shut down, relocate and transform chemical businesses in its jurisdiction. To this end, it issued a series of documents to facilitate measures to eradicate unqualified enterprises and help eligible ones get back to work at an early date. On October 28, 2019, the Department of Emergency Management of Jiangsu Province published a notice [6] on taking strong measures to enhance work safety of chemical enterprises which are shut down, allowed to restart output or forced to exit.
