China’s Dalian City releases third list of companies required to improve VOC management, 74 companies on list including Japanese firms

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 Their VOC Management.

Background

In 2019, Dalian City announced a plan called the Operational Plan for Thorough Improvement of Volatile Organic Compound Management in Key Industries in Dalian City, which stated that the city would publish the Lists of the Companies That Should Thoroughly Improve Their VOC Management in installments. The companies on the list are required to improve their VOC management. The lists consist of businesses in key industries, including the chemical, industrial coating, printing and packaging, and rubber and plastic manufacturing industries.

Companies that meet the following criteria are excluded from the lists, provided they apply for exemption and get approval of the Department of Ecology and Environment.

1. The annual total emissions are less than one ton.
2. The company has steadily met the standards for VOCs for the past one year.
3. The company doesn’t have records of environment-related complaints.

In the plan, companies are severely punished according to the law, if they are found violating relevant laws or regulations. If they haven’t established measures and received approval of the authority in accordance with the requirements, they will be required to suspend operations and correct their issues. In cases where the measures implemented by them are unlikely to meet the standards, they will be required to suspend operations and the local government will enforce the correction or shutdown.

Here is an outline of the third list.

Timetable for the improvement plan

1. In August 2020, the companies on the list begin preparing VOC management measures “for each factory” and then start improvement operations.
2. Assessments of the measures by experts are completed by December 31, 2020.
3. The improvement plan is completed by June 30, 2021.

Companies on the list

1. A total of 74 companies are on the third list, including Japanese companies.
2. The companies on the list include those in the compressor, automotive electronics, power tool, furniture and plastic processing industries (check the original list at the links below for details).

References

List of the companies that passed the first round of VOC measures assessments (119 companies in total):
http://www.epb.dl.gov.cn/common/View.aspx?mid=378&id=40991&back=1

List of the companies that passed the second round of VOC measures assessments (51 companies in total):
http://www.epb.dl.gov.cn/common/View.aspx?mid=378&id=41754&back=1

The Third List of the Companies in Key Industries That Should Thoroughly Improve Their VOC Management can be viewed at this link (in Simplified Chinese):
http://www.epb.dl.gov.cn/Common/View.aspx?mid=200&id=41765