China is Revising “Measures for the Management of Sudden Accident Emergency Response Plans” 
On March 11, 2022, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management published a draft for soliciting opinions on the “Measures for the Management of Sudden Accident Emergency Response Plans” and began accepting comments. The deadline for comments is April 11, 2022. The Measures stipulate rules for the formulation, approval, and notification of emergency response plans for sudden accidents taken by enterprises and other entities. According to the provisions of the higher-level laws, companies that produce, handle, or use “hazardous chemicals” are required to formulate emergency response plans for sudden accidents. In the revised draft for opinions, provisions have been added to make notification management normative and to promote information-based management by establishing a database of emergency response plans.
Relevant Law Provisions
Article 23 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Sudden Accident Response, the higher-level law, stipulates that “mines, builders, and businesses that produce, handle, store/transport, or use hazardous materials such as flammable and explosive materials, dangerous chemicals, and radioactive items must set up a plan for sudden accident emergency response.
Requirements for related companies
In accordance with the above “Law on Sudden Accident Response” and other regulations, businesses must formulate an emergency response plan that includes details such as the person responsible for emergency response, main duties, reporting of information, organization of personnel evacuation, and evacuation routes. The emergency response plan must then be submitted for approval in accordance with the methods stipulated by the local people’s government and relevant departments, and notified to the relevant departments, with duplicate copies sent to the designated departments. In addition, training, publicity, and drills based on the said response plan must also be conducted.
Main contents of this revision
As noted above, the revisions are intended to make the notification management of emergency response plans more normative. The draft for soliciting opinions require relevant local government departments to establish a notification management system, develop notification implementation rules, and guide and supervise the implementation of notification operations. It also indicates that a database of emergency response plans should be established in each region and that a framework for sharing relevant data should be realized.
The original text of the above draft for comments can be viewed at the following URL (in simplified Chinese).
https://www.mem.gov.cn/gk/zfxxgkpt/fdzdgknr/202203/t20220311_409407.shtml
