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 September 27, 2020, the Ministry of Emergency Management of China released the first Catalogue of Abolished Outdated Processes and Equipment for Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals. The public notice …
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On September 21, 2020, the Provincial Development and Reform Commission and the Provincial Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong released the “Catalogue of Plastic Products Restricted and Prohibited …
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On September 11, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced the Guidance on Optimization and Improvement of Environmental Protection Enforcement (draft for comments) to collect opinions. …
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The latest trends in tightening regulations on VOC content in products such as paints and inks in China. 1. Recently promulgated 7 new VOC national standards and their background …
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On October 2, 2020, Ministry of Emergency Management of China released the “Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China” (Draft for Comments) and opened a call for …
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China, Regulations on Waste Electrical and Electronic Products On February 25, 2009, the State Council of China issued the Regulation on the Management of Collection and Disposal of Waste Electrical …
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Background As China’s electrical and electronics industry developed, deficiencies in the systems for China’s RoHS 1 emerged, and revision of RoHS 1 became an urgent need. It was also necessary …
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In China, new chemical substances are managed in a system where “companies apply and register chemical substances for themselves”, based on the Measures on the Environmental Management of New Chemical Substances and the Guidelines on the Reporting and Registration of New Chemical Substances as well as the inventory. The application and registration status of new chemical substances are kept updated on the website of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China. A public notice is issued for each reported substance; it gives the receipt number, Chinese name of the substance, applicant (a person or a company), application type and management type.
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The Countermeasure Strategy against VOCs Background In China, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are defined as organic chemicals that have a vapor pressure of 0.01 kPa or more at room …
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A trend report on air pollution. Background The Air Pollution Control Act — one of the nine basic environmental protection laws and the overarching legislation for air pollution control …
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A trend report on water pollution regulations. Background The Water Pollution Control Act — one of the nine basic environmental protection laws and the overarching legislation for water pollution …
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1. Current status of occupational health and safety management in China In China, in order to ensure the safety and health of workers, the safety management of production is being …
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In China, bad odors are regulated under the Air Pollution Control Act, and are specifically regulated by individual national standards. Noise is regulated as a single sector regulation, but in …
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1. Current status of soil pollution and countermeasures in China In China, the situation of soil contamination is not deemed to be optimistic because the legislative efforts to cope with …
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Air pollution control (This page) Air Pollution Control Act 1. Current status of air pollution and countermeasures in China In recent years, in China, it is said that by …
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Water pollution prevention (This page) Water Pollution Control Act 1. Current status of water pollution and countermeasures in China In China, along with high economic development, the promotion of …
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1．Current state of energy conservation in China Energy saving is a basic national policy of China. China is implementing an energy development policy that balances “savings” and “development” and prioritizes …
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Waste management (This page) WEEE 1. Current status of China solid waste pollution and countermeasures In China, solid waste is divided into five classes: “industrial solid waste”, “household waste”, …
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Chemical Substances Regulation and Management (This page) The Countermeasure Strategy against VOCs Regulations on VOC content in products such as paints and inks RoHS2 New chemical substances 1. Management …
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On August 4, 2020, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, released the Third List of the Companies in Key Industries That Should Thoroughly …
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On August 15, 2020, the Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province, China announced the Guidelines for Companies and Public institutions in Guangdong Province on Development of Emergency …
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On July 23, 2020, the Standardization Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation of China announced a revision of the mandatory national standard, the “General Safety Requirements for …
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Overview, Environmental Standards 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 …
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The Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Shanghai announced a notice about “the revision of the list on emergency emission reductions for severe air pollution days in 2020”, in order …
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On August 4, 2020, the Department of Ecology and Environment of Dalian City, Liaoning Province, China, released the Third List of the Companies in Key Industries That Should Thoroughly Improve …
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On August 26, 2020, China’s Standardization Administration released a proposed revision (a draft for opinion gathering) of the national standard, Minimum Energy Performance Standard and Energy Efficiency Grades for Electric …
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On August 31, 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation of China issued a WTO/TBT notification of a proposed revision of the compulsory national standard (GB), “Gas Storage Water Heater” …
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Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China reported on August 17, 2020 on the use status of the public service platform for the Restriction of the Use of Certain …
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On August 15, 2020, the Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province, China announced the Guidelines for Companies and Public institutions in Guangdong Province on Development of Emergency Response …
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On August 17, 2020, the Ministry of Ecological Environment of China published the “Guideline for Environmental Management and Registration of New Chemical Substances (Draft calling opinions)” and started soliciting opinions. …
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In order to normalize the collection and dismantling activities of discarded vehicles and strengthen the control of related industries, on July 18, 2020, seven administrative agencies such as the Ministry …
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China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the “Plan for Coordinated Transformation and Upgrading of the Industry of Comprehensive Utilization of Industrial Resources in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Surrounding Regions …
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On July 21, 2020, the local government of Guangdong province announced “Notice on measures to implement foreign capital investment” in order to respond the requirements of “the Opinions on further …
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The Bureau of Ecology and Environment of Shanghai announced a notice about “the revision of the list on emergency emission reductions for severe air pollution days in 2020”, in order …
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In July 2020, the China Electronics and Information Industry Development Research Institute released “China Consumer Electronics Market Report for the first half of 2020”. The report provides analysis and reporting on the …
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On July 7, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) announced “Notice on Strengthening Management of the Soil pollution Prevention Project (collection for opinions)”, in order to …
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In order to build an open, transparent, fair and impartial supervision and management environment by further standardizing the work of state supervision on sampling test for product quality, the Directorate …
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On July 23, 2020, the Standardization Administration and the State Administration for Market Regulation of China announced a revision of the mandatory national standard, the “General Safety Requirements for School …
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On July 19, 2020, the Development and Reform Commission, with the Department of Ecology and Environment of Hebei Province announced a plan to further strengthen measures against plastic pollution. The …
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On July 2, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China released the “Practical Manual about countermeasure of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)” for 14 industries, which include: Paint, ink and …
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On July 2, 2020, the Ministry of Emergency Management of China announced at its website “Safety Maintenance and Abolition List for Hazardous Chemicals Companies (call for opinions)” and “Old Technical …
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Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau announced a new local standard called the “Technical Standards for the Control of Laboratory-generated Volatile Organic Compound Pollution” (DB11/T 1736-2020) on June 30, 2020. …
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China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced 18 group standards for the electronics industry on its website on June 19, 2020. These standards cover a wide range of electronic …
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On 23 June, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) announced “2020 Plan for against Volatile Organic Compounds” to achieve the targets proposed at the 13th Five-Year …
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On June 22, 2020, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment(MEE) of China announced the “Circular on strengthening operations for monitoring volatile organic compounds (VOC)”. It stipulates the details of VOC …
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On June 30, 2020, 16 government ministries, including State Administration for Market Regulation of China announced the list of joint random inspection issues in market regulation (1st edition), in order …
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According to the announcement from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China On June 30, 2020, it released earlier in the month a booklet called the On-site VOC Inspection …
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On June 17, 2020, the Local Government of Jiangsu Province announced the Water Protection Regulation of Jiangsu, which came into force on August 1, 2020. Definition of water The …
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According to the announcement from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China On June 30, 2020, it released earlier in the month a booklet called the On-site VOC Inspection …
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On June 16, 2020, the National Standardization Management Committee of China announced a plan to newly establish or revise the national standards. In the plan, 11 national standards are listed. …
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On June 17, 2020, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced the “Guideline on available techniques of pollution prevention and control for automotive industry (Call for Opinions)” and …
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On May 15, 2020, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China announced the “2020 Volatile Organic Compound (VOCs) Countermeasures Strategy (exposure draft)” to thoroughly implement the “Notice on the …
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On May 30, 2020, the China’s Ministry of Emergency Management, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport announced the “Special Regulation Hazardous Chemicals List …
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On May 12, 2020, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China began collecting opinions on how to respond to the proposed amendments passed at the Conference of the Parties …
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On May 27, 2020, China Household Electrical Appliances Association announced the publication of the association standard T/CHEAA 0012-2020, Key parts of smart toilet Constant pressure water inlet solenoid valve and …
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The State Administration for Market Regulation of China said on May 29, 2020, 9 compulsory national standards have been promulgated, including “Minimum allowable values of energy efficiency and energy efficiency …
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On April 21, 2020, the China National Development and Reform Commission and the Directorate General of State Market Surveillance officially promulgated the “Energy Efficiency Label Implementation Product List (15th) and …
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The Ministry of Eco-Environment of China promulgated a revised version of the ” New Chemical Substances Environmental Management Registration Act” in the Order No. 12 of the Eco-Environment Department dated …
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In March 2020, Shanghai municipal bureau of ecology and environment announced the plan for further strengthening hazardous waste pollution control to improve the capacities of environmental supervision, recycling and environmental …
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In order to steadily enforce the request in ” Circular on constructing a green manufacturing system” and to promote the work of evaluating green design products, the Ministry of Industry …
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Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Technology Centre of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) in China promulgated the Circular of the “Measures on the management of experts for technical …
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On March 2, 2020, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (MEE) announced “Technical Guidelines for Continuous Emissions Monitoring of Non-Methane Total Hydrocarbon in Waste Gas Emitted from Stationary …
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In China, in an effort to suppress the impact on spread of the new coronavirus infections in production activities, local governments are carrying out emergency management and emergency measures on …
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In February 2020, China energy efficiency labeling network listed 20 national standards related to energy efficiency and water utilization efficiency which would come into force during 2020. The list is …
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China’s National public service platform for standards information announced the work plan for drafting the national standard, “Material declaration of electrical and electronic products – Requirements for declaration for certain …
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On December 17, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China announced “The Guideline and Examples on Usage of Industrial Water Conservation Projects, Technologies and Equipment (2019 Edition) encouraged …
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On December 24, 2019, The Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China promulgated 11 national standards for environmental protection, which includes the “Technical specifications for wastewater monitoring”, in order to …
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On December 26, 2019, the Ministry of Emergency Management of China promulgated the “Guideline for Emergency Preparedness of Hazardous Chemical Accidents”. The Guideline was developed to strengthen the emergency preparedness …
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On November 12, 2019, the China Industrial Green Products Promotion Association and China Industry-University-Research Institute Collaboration Association promulgated the association Standard T/CAGP 0046-2019, ” Technical Specification for Green-Design Product Assessment Commercial …
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