Revised Rules Governing New Chemical Substances Take Effect Next Year

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) recently published revised measures for the environmental management registration of new chemical substances (MEE Order No. 12 [2020]), which will come into force on 1 January 2021. The revised measures seek to improve the environmental management registration of new chemical substances on the basis of stability to keep up with the times. While deepening the reform on streamlining administration, delegating powers and improving services and ensuring that environmental risks are controllable, steps will be taken to optimise the setting of application types and data declaration requirements, paying attention to integration with international practice in data recognition to reduce the burden of enterprises. Efforts will also be made to take the problem-oriented approach in resolving key issues of endangering the ecological environment and public health and other issues of general concern to the people with focus on environmental risk prevention and control. Special efforts will be made to manage and control new chemical substances with high environmental risks and improve the procedural and on-going and ex-post environmental monitoring requirements for items listed in the Catalogue of Existing Chemical Substances in China.

Source: Ministry of Ecology and Environment