China seeks public comments on chemicals that should be assessed for environmental risks with priority

On July 20, 2022, China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced on its website that it is seeking proposals for chemicals to be included in the First Plan for Prioritized Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals. Proposals for substances that should be prioritized for environmental risk assessment will be accepted through July 31, 2022. The New Pollutant Control Action Plan, which was released in May 2022, intends to assess the environmental and health hazard of chemicals, with a primary focus on substances produced or used in large quantities, detected frequently in the environment or used for various purposes, while developing an assessment database. It says a plan to assess important chemicals first will be formulated and the First Plan for Prioritized Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals will be announced by the end of 2022. The ministry made the latest announcement to collect proposals for chemicals to be included in the above-mentioned first plan. Proposed chemicals must meet the requirements of the Guidelines for Screening of Priority Assessment Chemical Substances (HJ 1229-2021).

The following two forms to be used for this proposal are provided on the announcement page:

• • List of proposed chemicals
  • Basic information on proposed chemicals

The “list of proposed chemicals” form has fields for chemical names, CAS registry numbers (if any), presumed hazard and reasons to include them in the plan. In addition to these, the “basic information on proposed chemicals” form has fields for physical and chemical properties, ecotoxicity, health toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation, hazard classification and so on.

EnviX supplemental information

The New Pollutant Control Action Plan (document code: 国办发〔2022〕15号, Chinese name: 新污染物治理行动方案), released May 4, 2022, defines general policies for new pollutants. “New pollutants” refer to substances with properties such as biotoxicity, environmental persistence and bioaccumulation. This is considered an important plan because it provides the basis for future chemical regulations. Companies need to check if their products are/contain substances with these properties to determine if they are/contain new pollutants or not.

According to the action plan, the First Plan for Prioritized Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals will be announced by the end of 2022. In addition, the List of Chemicals Regulated With Priority will be continuously updated. The first and second installments of the list (22 and 18 chemicals, respectively) have already been issued. Chemicals on this list are subject to environmental regulations and their use and discharge are restricted. Because the action plan says the list will continue to be updated, you may want to keep an eye on the development of its third installment.

The ministry’s announcement of seeking proposals for chemicals to be included in the First Plan for Prioritized Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals (in Chinese) is available at
https://www.mee.gov.cn/hdjl/yjzj/zjyj/202207/t20220720_989198.shtml