On 24 Nov 2015, the SCC-MEP announced on its website that the charge for new chemical substance inquiry service will be raised from 600 RMB per substance to 5000 RMB per substance from 1st of Jan 2016.
The inquiry service offered by the authority since 2003 is the most reliable way to identify whether a substance is a new chemical substance and subject to China new chemical substance notification (China NCSN). Initially was free of charge. From October 15 of 2009, a fee of 200 RMB per substance was charged by the CRC-MEP (replaced by SCC-MEP), which rose to 600 RMB per on the 1s of Jan 2013. Two years later, the SCC-MEP has once again decided to raise the charge up to 5000 RMB per substance, a move which has been subject to widespread criticism due to the large increase.
In addition, SCC-MEP will in the future only issue search results after the fee is paid. Even if searches yield the result “can not be ascertained” (e.g. information submitted by the company is insufficient) or “don’t conform to the scope” (e.g. information submitted is about an article rather than a substance), the client will still need to pay the money from 1 Jan 2016 onwards. In the past payment was only required when the authority issued a clear result i.e. “the substance is a new chemical substance” or “the substance is not a new chemical substance”.
Confirmation of the status of a substance is essential prior to actual notification. The new charge will ensure that all enquires are made by enterprise with a serious intention to notify a substance and ease the administrative burden on SCC-MEP. Companies that are not sure about the status of their substances are highly recommended to submit their formal search inquiry before January 1st to avail of the current low rate.
