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On September 8, 2025, the draft Law on Hazardous Chemicals Safety was proposed for a second reading by the current Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). On September 12, 2025, the Law on Hazardous Chemicals Safety (2nd Draft) was issued for public comments. The comment period will be due by October 11, 2025.
Speaking at the 17th Chemical Regulatory Annual Conference (CRAC) held on September 11, 2025, Mr. Bie Tao, the Chief Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, introduced the latest updates to this important law. Mr. Bie Tao shared that stakeholders actively participated in the public consultation (24 Dec 2024 to 23 Jan 2025) on the First Draft of the Law and put forward comments. Based on the comments from various sectors, the main amendments made to the Second Draft are as follows:
To establish and improve the management system for the hazardous chemicals catalog.
To specify that the work of hazardous chemicals safety management should adhere to an overall national security perspective, coordinating development and safety, and preventing and mitigating major safety risks from the source.
To encourage relevant units and individuals to report safety hazards and provide legal rewards for such reports.
To strengthen the supervision and management by government departments over the use of hazardous chemicals by relevant units in the industry and field.
To clarify the applicability of this law and the relevant regulations on the transportation of hazardous goods.
To improve regulatory measures for the road transportation of hazardous chemicals and enhance the intensity of supervision.
Following China’s legislation procedure, a draft law generally requires three readings; further revisions may be proposed incorporating stakeholders’ opinions. Once deliberation reaches a unanimous agreement among all parties, with no significant issues requiring further study, the legislative process will advance to the voting stage. If a majority supports the law, it will be approved for promulgation. Mr. Bie Tao predicted that if all the processes go smoothly, the Law on Hazardous Chemicals Safety is expected to be released by the end of this year or around April next year.
Another important progress is related to the revision work for the mandatory national standard GB 15258. Mr. Chen Xiang, from Shanghai Customs Inspection Center of Industrial Products & Raw Materials, shared that the revision to GB 15258 is expected to be officially published in about half a year. This standard specifies the requirements and mandates the use of GHS labels for hazardous chemicals to support the GHS implementation in China. A draft revision GB 15258-XXXX has been published to solicit public comments by October 12, 2025. Once adopted, the safety information code of hazardous chemical (NRCC QR Code) will be added as a label element and shall be presented on the label before circulation of hazardous chemicals.
