The Environmental Protection Law at China’s environmental legislative system
China’s system of environmental legislation is established based on the Environmental Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China that was enacted in 1989. Under this law, other separate laws have been enacted for controlling pollution. Some of these laws are as follows:
China updated the Environmental Protection Law in 2015. This was the first major revisions. The revised law includes stricter punishments on polluters. It also allows non-governmental organizations to file environmental lawsuits against violators. The National People’s Congress revised other laws, including the Law on the Prevention and control of Air Pollution in 2018 and the Law on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution in 2017. The Congress also adopted the Law on the Prevention and Control of Soil Pollution on August 31, 2018.
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution was enacted in 1987 and amended in 1995, 2000, 2015 and 2018. This Law is formulated in order to prevent and control atmospheric pollution, protect and improve people’s environment and the ecological environment, safeguard human health, and promote the sustainable development of economy and society. The concentration of the discharged pollutants may not exceed the standards prescribed by the State and local authorities. The quality standards for products containing volatile organic compounds, such as coal, petroleum coke, biomass fuel, and coatings, fireworks and firecrackers, boilers, etc., are developed and the atmospheric environment protection requirements are specified.
The environmental legislative framework to protect the air pollution is as follows.
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution is formulated in order to prevent and control water pollution, protecting and improving the environment, and safeguarding the safety of drinking water.
The environmental legislative framework to protect the water pollution is as follows.
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Water Pollution
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste is the national primary law governing municipal and industrial waste management. This law lays out basic requirements for solid waste disposal for industrial facilities. It requires the specified facilities to get approval from the local environmental protection bureau for waste disposal plans prior to construction. The bureaus are also responsible for issuing permits for the collection, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.
The environmental legislative framework on waste management is as follows.
Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste
Industrial chemicals are mainly regulated by the following regulations in China:
“Decree of the State Council No 591 Regulations on Safe Management of Hazardous Chemicals”
“Order of the Ministry of Environmental Protection No. 7 Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances”
Pursuant to article 15 of the Decree No 591, manufacturers of hazardous chemicals shall provide safety data sheet on the hazardous chemicals that are produced, post or affix a chemical safety label on the package. The contents in safety data sheet and chemical safety labels should meet the requirements of relevant national standards. The relevant standards in China are as follows:
On April 29, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China (MEE) issued the final Measures on Registrations of New Chemical Substances for Environmental Management under Ministry Order No. 12. The new Measures replaces the current 2010 version and comes into force on January 1, 2021, when the Order No.7 will be repealed.
Same as the current version, the new Measures require manufacturers and importers to register new chemical substances with MEE before placing the new chemical substances on the Chinese market. They also introduce a notification process for new uses of existing listed substances.
Law on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals (Revision draft for solicitation of comments)
In order to strengthen the safety management of hazardous chemicals, prevent and reduce hazardous chemical accidents, the Ministry of Emergency Management organized the consultation on the draft of the “Law on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals”, which had been open to the public comments until 1 November, 2020. If approved, it will replace Decree No. 591.
The draft law is applicable to the safety management of the production, storage, use, operation, transportation and disposal of hazardous chemicals. It consists of 11 chapters (Article 137), and based on the lessons learned from the explosion accident, “Safety of hazardous chemical disposal” etc. was added to clarify the responsibility for safety supervision of the disposal (Disposal safety). The State implements a hazardous chemical registration system.
Framework of EHS laws and regulations in China.
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On Dec. 25, 2023, the China Chemical Safety Association published two association standards called the Technical Specification for Coding and Labeling of Hazardous Chemicals (T/CCSAS 047-2023) and the Technical Specification …
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On Jan. 17, 2024, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment published a national ecological and environmental standard called the Technical Specification for Vehicle Environmental Information Disclosure (HJ 1350-2024) with the …
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On Jan. 22, 2024, China’s National Certification and Accreditation Administration announced a comprehensive update to the test standards for China RoHS conformity assessment, replacing the GB/T 26125 standard with the …
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On February 12, the State Administration for Market Regulation of China notified a draft of a mandatory national standard (GB) entitled “Household and similar electrical appliances – Energy saving and …
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On January 18, 2024, the Ministry of Transport of China promulgated the revised “Regulation on the transport of dangerous goods by air”. The revised Regulation will take effect from July …
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On Dec. 29, 2023, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association published a general standard and two product-specific standards for the carbon footprint calculation of home appliances: Guidelines for Carbon Footprint …
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On Jan. 9, 2024, The Department of Finance and the Department of Ecology and Environment of Jiangsu province, China, issued “Experimental Provincial Measures on Incentives for Zero-Waste City Development“, which …
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On Dec. 29, 2023, the Standing Committee of the Municipal People’s Congress of Shanghai, China, published draft municipal regulations on zero-waste city development. The city sought comments on the draft …
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On Dec. 29, 2023, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a pilot program for “Corporate Green Barcode” that shows “Green Levels” (environmental status) of green factories. Companies can …
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On Dec. 27, 2023, China’s Shandong province published “Provincial measures on the management of chemical industrial parks“. This is a revision of the previous version issued in 2020. It will …
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On December 18, 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced the addition of 25 registered new chemical substances to the List of Existing Chemical Substances on its …
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On Jan. 16, 2024, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced a relaxation of import and export regulations on low-concentration triethanolamine mixtures, effective Feb. 1, 2024. This relaxation measure …
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On Dec. 19, 2023, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a 2023 plan for a comprehensive standards development program for the solar power industry to seek comments. In …
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On Dec. 27, 2023, China’s National Development and Reform Commission published the 2024 edition of the Industrial Structure Adjustment Guidance List ― a national list of industrial fields, operations, equipment, …
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On December 18, 2023, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced the addition of four new chemicals to the List of Existing Chemical Substances on its website.
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On December 28, 2023, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce and other 4 departments jointly issued the “Announcement on optimizing service management measures for certain products containing …
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On November 29, 2023, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the State Administration for Market Regulation released the “Product catalog for energy efficiency labeling in China (16th Batch) …
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On Nov. 24, 2023, China’s Zhejiang province issued provincial regulations on soil contamination control at the 14th Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress. The regulations, which consist of seven …
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On Nov. 20, 2023, the China National Institute of Standardization published a draft revised recommended national standard called the General Principles for Monitoring and Testing of Energy Saving (GB/T 15316). …
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On Nov. 30, 2023, China’s Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration published on its website guidelines for the water transportation of lithium batteries as dangerous goods, with the aim of ensuring the …
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