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Experts and Officials Discuss Chemical Management and Environmental Protection in China

Government officials and professional experts shared regulatory updates and exchanged opinions on chemicals management during the Environmental Safety and Sustainable Development Summit Forum.

On Mar 24th 2017, the Environmental Safety and Sustainable Development Summit was held by REACH24H Consulting Group in Hangzhou. The forum provided a chance for attendees, government authorities, industry and the academic community to communicate and exchange views on environmental protection and chemical management in China.

The Law of Environmental Protection Tax was passed by the National People’s Congress in the end of 2016 and will take effect on Jan 1st 2018. Dr. Jiwen Chang, the vice director of the Development Research Center (DRC) under the State Council and the environmental impact assessment expert of the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) both commented and criticized the environmental protection law for a lack of ambition. Criticism centered on the Law’s lack of a tax on the emission of greenhouse gases, trading of carbon emission quota and inadequacies relating to protection of natural resource and special ecosystems.

In Dr. Chang’s opinion, the current version of the Environmental Protection Tax Law is just a pollutants emission fee regulation by another name. Although it can be argued that the reason for the narrow scope of the Law was the fact legislators had to balance economic development with environmental protection, Dr. Chang still insisted that the Law should cover more areas than just pollutants emission, because it would be a waste of the Law’s strong enforcement power not to do so. Dr. Chang expected the Law to function as a comprehensive and systematic guideline in all aspects of environmental protection instead of a specific and practical instruction on pollutant emission charging.

There are a lot of disagreements between industry and the academic community. Enforcement duties are also still separated and designated to multiple government branches. For example, if the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) carries out the Law of Natural Resources Tax and the State Forestry Bureau carries out the Law of Ecological Protection Tax regulation and enforcement powers will be scattered between several authorities.

Dr. Chang also talked about the State Council and MEP’s working strategy in China’s 13th 5-year development plan (2016-2020). There are three main tasks related to chemical management:

  • Existing chemical substances will be evaluated for their risk levels and environmental exposure. A priority control list of chemicals will be issued no later than the end of 2017.

  • The chemicals controlled by the Stockholm Convention such as lindane and endosulfan will be phased out by 2020.

  • Pollution related to endocrine disruptors and other hormone/steroid chemicals will be controlled strictly. The nationwide investigation and evaluation of the usage of these substances will be finished by the end of 2017.

However, when talking about hazardous substances management, Dr. Chang didn’t comment on the abolishment of MEP Order 22. Nor did he acknowledge the preparation of the Law on the Safety of Hazardous Substances which has been anticipated by the public for some while. He only revealed that some new government branches will probably be established in about a year’s time and reforms will be decided then.  

Mr. Chunxiao Ren from the Road Transport Research Institute of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) shared information and opinion about future trends in the management of the road transport of dangerous goods. MOT has been trimming and researching on the current regulations and national standards of road transport of dangerous goods from Sep 2015. 18 regulations and 124 standards were involved, including the Decree 591, the Law of Production Safety, the Law of Road Transport Safety and its implementation rules, etc.

Some prominent problems were discovered in the management of consignments, the safety measures of tank trucks, the transport of small package goods, etc. To address the problems, MOT referred to the United Nation’s Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (TDG) and the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR) and drew up the Management Measures of Road Transport Safety of Dangerous Goods. The Measures specify the scope of dangerous goods and the requirements of classification. A transport system of limited quantities and excepted quantities of dangerous goods will be implemented. The Measures are now being internally discussed by different ministries and departments and are expected to go into force by mid-2017.

As to the waterway transport of dangerous goods, Ms. Luo Wei from Dalian Dangerous Goods Transport Research Center introduced an online database of information on dangerous goods. The database included the most common maritime dangerous goods that are listed in the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code, the International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code, the Inventory of Hazardous Substances, the Catalog of Dangerous Goods (GB 12268), etc. The detailed information of the dangerous goods can be searched, including the toxicology information, the environmental hazards, the emergency treatment measures and so on. To ensure the accuracy of the information, the database adopted data from authentic resources such as the Chemical Controls Watch, the Chemical Hazard Information Library, the European Inventory of Existing Commercial Chemical Substances (EINECS). The database will be maintained and updated dynamically and provide convenient service for the industry to help clearly understand safety compliance duties related to the waterway transport of dangerous goods.

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