Are You Ready for Real China REACH Regulation (C-REACH)?
Updated on 30 April 2015 by Little Pro [Disclaimer]
On 16 April 2015, the State Council of China has published its national action plan for water pollution prevention. The action plan covers many areas and has given a very good outline of measures to be taken to fight against water pollution. Controlling the environmental risks of chemicals has been identified as a key job to be accomplished. Several chemical management measures are proposed in article 17, 22 and 26. After reading them, we have to think that the real China REACH regulation (C-REACH) may not be too far from us.
Article 17: Improve Regulations and Standards
The government will expedite the promulgation of a new regulation on the environmental management of chemicals.
Article 22: Control Environmental Risks of Chemicals
The government will start assessing the health and environmental risks of existing chemical substances. A list of existing substances subject to priority control will be published before the end of 2017 according the plan.
Article 26: Control Environmental Endocrine Disrupters
The government will organize a national survey on the production and uses of Environmental Endocrine Disrupters before the end of 2017. Measures will be taken to eliminate, restrict or substitute certain endocrine disrupters. The Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) and the Ministry of Agriculture will lead this.
Are You Ready for C-REACH?
Even though called "China REACH", China MEP Order 7 currently only assesses new substances and requires new substance notification. Korea K-REACH and Taiwan TCSCA are already one-step ahead and require chemical companies to register prioritized existing substances.
So far, it is not clear how the Chinese government plans to assess prioritized existing chemical substances. If this obligation is put on industry, we will see real China REACH regulation controlling both new and existing substances. Regarding the new legislation, a draft version (called "C-REACH" by Chinese official) was ready available two years ago.
Take A Poll
References & More Reading
- National Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention;
- Overview of Chemical Regulations in China;
- China MEP Order 7 for New Substances (Current China REACH)
