Focus on Arts and Ecology

The big environmental stories in the Chinese media this week (6-12 Sep)

China is about to revolutionise its regulation on the management of harmful chemicals. Chinese media reported this week that the government has submitted a draft of its new chemical regulation to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to get feedback from other member states. WTO rules require this step before countries promulgate domestic regulations that may be considered “technical barriers to trade”.

In January this year, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment had also solicited public comments on the draft regulation. 

The new regulation would introduce mechanisms to systematically screen the tens of thousands of chemicals already in commercial use and identify those that may cause harm to human health and the environment. In the past, a majority of such chemicals have been exempted from regulatory scrutiny. Only a small portion, such as explosives, are subject to safety management regulations. The new regulation would introduce new criteria to prioritise chemicals for regulatory actions, which include those associated with persistence in the environment and potential to move through the food chain. 

The regulation would also create a set of obligations for companies producing, using or trading chemicals identified as posing risks. The obligations range from banning the use of the most harmful to providing detailed reports on the release of regulated chemicals into the environment. The latter obligation resembles information disclosure requirements long existing in developed countries (such as the US Toxics Release Inventory) that have incentivised corporations to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in production processes. 

China’s regulatory regime on chemicals has long been considered inadequate to protect human health and the environment. The new regulation is set to change that. 

Read chinadialogue’s report on the challenges of controlling environmental risks from chemicals in China.