The relevant person in charge of the Department of Solid Waste and Chemicals of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment answered reporters' questions on the revision and release of the "New Chemical Substances Environmental Management Registration Measures"

Release time:

2020-05-08 11:24

The Ministry of Ecology and Environment recently issued the "Measures for the Registration of Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances" (Order No. 12 of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, hereinafter referred to as the "Measures"), which will be implemented on January 1, 2021. In order to enable all sectors of society to have a deeper understanding of the background, ideas and main content of the revision of the "Measures", the relevant person in charge of the Solid Waste and Chemicals Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment answered questions from reporters.

1. Q: The environmental management registration of new chemical substances has been implemented for 17 years. What are the considerations for this revision?

A: the environmental management registration of new chemical substances is an internationally accepted chemical environmental management system, which requires that before the production or import of new chemical substances, the environmental hazards should be identified, the potential environmental risks of the whole life cycle of production, processing and use, and disposal should be assessed, and the "firewall" of source management should be established to prevent new chemical substances with unreasonable environmental risks from entering the economy and society, prevent such chemicals from damaging the ecological environment and endangering public health.

In 2003, the former State Environmental Protection Administration issued the "New Chemical Substances Environmental Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the original measures), which was revised for the first time in 2010. The implementation of the original measures has provided institutional guarantee for the environmental management of new chemical substances, effectively strengthened the environmental management of the production and import of new chemical substances, and played a positive role in preventing and reducing the disorderly use and environmental pollution of new chemical substances in China, and promoting green innovation and high-quality development of relevant industries.

However, after years of practice, some provisions of the original method can no longer meet the current requirements of environmental management. The purpose of this revision is to implement the decision and deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on fighting pollution prevention and control, highlight precise pollution control, scientific pollution control, and pollution control according to law, promote the continuous improvement of the quality of the ecological environment, and further implement the "release, management and service" "Reform requirements, and continuously improve the new chemical substance environmental management system.

2. Q: What is the idea of revising the method?

A: the general idea of the revision of the measures is to promote the environmental management and registration of new chemical substances to keep pace with the times and improve the development on the basis of maintaining continuity and stability.

The first is to deepen the requirement of "letting go. Under the premise of ensuring controllable environmental risks, optimize and adjust the application type settings and declaration data requirements, pay attention to international standards in data recognition, reduce the burden on enterprises, and promote China's green chemical innovation research. The "Measures" also adjusted the management requirements of relevant chemical substance testing institutions, and consolidated the results of the reform of "decentralization and service" in the supervision of chemical substance testing institutions since 2017.

Two is to adhere to the problem oriented. Efforts will be made to solve key problems that endanger the ecological environment and public health and issues of general concern to the people. First, focus on environmental risk prevention and control, focusing on the control of new chemical substances with high environmental risk. The second is to refine the registration access conditions and evaluation criteria, optimize the reporting requirements after registration, and improve the procedures for inclusion in the "List of Existing Chemical Substances in China" and the requirements for environmental supervision during and after the event.

The third is to adhere to collaborative governance. We should fully learn from the environmental management experience of new chemical substances in developed countries and China's management practice for many years, implement the main responsibility of enterprises, clarify the environmental supervision responsibilities of national and local management departments, promote the information disclosure of government and enterprises, give full play to the role of social supervision, and form a joint force to strengthen the environmental registration management of new chemical substances.

Four is to adhere to the "open door legislation". In the process of revising the measures, we have organized and held symposiums for many times to fully listen to the opinions and suggestions of enterprises in relevant industries, local management departments, experts and scholars, and extensively listen to opinions and suggestions from all walks of life by openly soliciting opinions from the public and informing the (WTO) of the World Trade Organization.

3. Q: What are the main amendments to the Measures?

A: This revision focuses on the following five aspects:

First, focus on environmental risks, highlighting the focus of control. For the purpose of effectively preventing environmental risks, it is clear that the focus of control is on new chemical substances that are persistent, bioaccumulative, harmful to the environment and health, or that may exist in the environment for a long time and may pose a greater risk to the ecological environment and public health.

The second is to optimize the application requirements and reduce the burden on enterprises. Drawing on the experience of international chemical environmental management and based on China's many years of management practice, the application type setting has been optimized without reducing the environmental risk control requirements, and the original simple declaration has been adjusted to filing and the low and medium levels of the original regular declaration have been adjusted to simple declaration. At the same time, the declaration data requirements have been further optimized.

The third is to refine the registration standards and improve the approval requirements. After the revision of the Measures, the specific standards for registration and non-registration are clarified. It also stipulates other cases of non-registration, as well as re-application for registration, change, withdrawal and cancellation of registration, highlighting environmental risk control requirements, Strengthening source prevention and enhancing operability.

Fourth, strengthen the supervision after the event, improve management efficiency. The measures put forward the tracking management requirements of "two strengthening" and "three optimization", strengthened the main responsibility of enterprises to implement the environmental risk control of new chemical substances, strengthened the pertinence of environmental risk control measures, and optimized the information reporting requirements, supervision methods and supervision focus. Environmental risk control measures are mainly aimed at new chemical substances with great environmental hazards. Post-registration information reporting is limited to gathering information that is urgently needed for management. The requirement for each activity report and five-year activity report was eliminated, and the scope of the annual report was narrowed. The supervision of new chemical substances is carried out in accordance with the principle of "double random and one open", using supervision and spot checks, which is conducive to improving management efficiency.

The fifth is to track new hazard information and continuously prevent environmental risks. The Measures improve the relevant provisions on new hazard information and environmental risk tracking after the environmental management registration of new chemical substances, requiring researchers, producers, importers and processing users of new chemical substances to find new environmental or health hazards or environmental risks of new chemical substances, They shall promptly report to the competent department of ecological environment under the State Council; if it may lead to an increase in environmental risks, measures shall be taken in time to eliminate or reduce environmental risks. After receiving relevant information such as new hazards, the competent department of ecological environment under the State Council shall organize a technical review, and may, if necessary, change or withdraw the corresponding registration certificate according to the results of the review.

4. Question: After the implementation of the Measures, what responsibilities and obligations should the relevant enterprises and institutions fulfill?

Answer: Relevant enterprises and institutions engaged in the research, production, import, processing and use of new chemical substances should take effective measures to prevent and control the environmental risks of new chemical substances. The main responsibilities and obligations are as follows:

First, a registration certificate should be obtained or filed. Before the production or import of new chemical substances, a new chemical substance environmental management regular registration certificate or a simple registration certificate shall be obtained, or a new chemical substance environmental management record shall be handled. For chemical substances that have been listed in the "List of Existing Chemical Substances in China" but are subject to environmental management for new uses, if they are used for other industrial uses other than permitted uses, they shall go through environmental management registration for new uses before production, import or processing.

Second, environmental risks should be prevented and controlled. In the process of research, production, import, processing and use, effective measures should be taken to prevent and control the environmental risks of new chemical substances. regular registered producers and processing users of new chemical substances shall also disclose the implementation of environmental risk control measures and environmental management requirements through their official websites or other means that are convenient for the public to know.

Three is to implement the tracking management requirements. Producers, importers and processing users of new chemical substances shall, in accordance with the provisions of the measures, implement the requirements of tracking management such as information transmission, data record keeping and activity reporting. If a new chemical substance is found to have new environmental or health hazard characteristics or environmental risks, it shall be reported in a timely manner, and if it may cause an increase in environmental risks, measures shall be taken in a timely manner to eliminate or reduce environmental risks.

Fourth, it should be subject to supervision and spot checks. When the competent department of ecological environment carries out environmental supervision and spot checks in accordance with the law, researchers, producers, importers and processing users of new chemical substances shall cooperate, truthfully provide relevant information, and accept supervision and spot checks.

5. Question: After the implementation of the Measures, what are the considerations for the convergence of the new and old methods?

Answer: The overall policies and principles for the convergence of new and old methods have been clearly stipulated in the "Measures. Article 53 of the measures stipulates that if the environmental management registration of new chemical substances has been handled in accordance with the provisions of the measures for the Environmental Management of New Chemical substances (decree No. 7 of the Ministry of Environmental Protection) and the measures for the Environmental Management of New Chemical substances (decree No. 17 of the State Environmental Protection Administration), the relevant registration shall continue to be valid after the implementation of the measures. Article 45 specifies the procedures and relevant requirements for the corresponding inclusion in the List of Existing Chemical Substances in China. For the convergence matters not stipulated in the measures, our Ministry will, in accordance with the basic principles of the Administrative Licensing Law and the applicable rules of relevant laws, issue management documents in the near future to clarify them.

6. Q: After the implementation of the Measures, how will the relevant supporting documents be considered?

Answer: During the revision of the "Measures", our department has simultaneously carried out the formulation and revision of the "New Chemical Substances Environmental Management Registration Guidelines" and its supporting documents. Further refine and improve the declaration data requirements, hazard assessment, environmental risk assessment, social and economic benefit analysis, new use environmental management registration and other contents involved in the implementation of the Measures, as well as a series of forms and document styles required after registration and registration.

Note: The above information comes from the official website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment

Interpretation of the Key Points of "Registration Measures for Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances"

An article to read chemical safety instructions (M)SDS

Interpretation of the Key Points of "Registration Measures for Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances"

An article to read chemical safety instructions (M)SDS

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