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SAWS's Order 53 - The measures for the administration of registration of hazardous chemicals

Updated in April 2014

11 July 2012, The final version of the measures for the administration of registration of hazardous chemicals was published by the State Administration of Work Safety(SAWS) via its order 53. The measures has set out the detailed requirements and procedures for registration as required by the regulations on safe management of hazardous chemicals (Decree 591) that came into force on 1 December last year. The new measures will replace those issued in 2002 and enter into force on 1 August 2012.

The key principle is that manufacturers and importers in China shall register hazardous chemicals with the National Registration Center of Chemicals (NRCC) of SAWS prior to manufacturing or importation. The validity of registration certificate is 3 years and has to be renewed 3 months prior to the certificates expiry date.

The measures will trigger important new obligations for companies, especially importers in China because importers are not required to register under old measures.

NEW!

29 April 2014, The Workshop on Registration of Imported Hazardous Chemicals in China, organized by CIRS, was successfully held in Shanghai on 24th April 2014. More than 90 delegates from large chemical companies such as Dow, AkzoNobel, Evonik, Ashland, Solvay, Kao, and IFF etc attended this workshop. To access the summary of this workshop, please click here.

The Scope of Hazardous Chemicals Subject to Registration

The following two types of hazardous chemicals are subject to registration:

• Chemicals listed in the Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals;
• Chemicals which are not listed in the Catalog but are identified as hazardous by designed institutions;

For chemicals with unknown hazards(chemicals outside of the Catalog), hazard identification is required. More info can be found here. Eventually all chemicals(substances or mixtures) classified as hazardous according to GHS (excluding certain hazard categories such as acute toxicity 5) will require registration.

New!

22 April 2013, You cansearch if your substance is listed in the Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals by using CIRS's free Chinese Chemical Inventory Search System (CCISS) now.

• http://cciss.cirs-group.com/

Documents Required for HazChem Registrations

Unlike new chemical registration which requires expensive toxicology data, eco-toxicology data and risk assessment, HazChem registration only requires the following information:

• legal entity information
• classification and labeling
• physiochemical properties
• main uses
• hazard classes
• conditions for safe storage, use and transport
• emergency responses.

25 Oct 2012, China SAWS has published a series of supporting documents for hazardous chemicals registration. The 8 supporting documents consist of hazardous chemicals registration form for manufacturers, registration form for importers, user application form, application form for renewal, and NRCC’s draft notices to reject one application or request more data.

Detailed information required for each part of registration form is listed as follows:

Part No.	Information Required	Notes
Legal Entity Information	Name, date of formation, address, legal representative, sales revenue, business license, qualifications of import, manufacturer’s information, no. of products, storage facilities, EHS professionals, etc.	Importers are divided into trading importer and downstream user importer.
List of Chemicals	Index, Chinese name, trade name,  HS code, whether a chemical is listed in the Catalog/List of Highly Toxic Chemicals/List of Hazardous Chemicals for Priority Management/List of Precursor Chemicals for Drugs & Explosives, country of origin, annual volume	Country of origin is only required for imported hazardous chemicals.
Identification of Source of Major Hazards	Name of source of major hazards, address, main facilities, and accidents in the past 3 years.	Not required for trading importer without storage facilities.
Identification of Chemical Process for Key Priority Management	Description of chemical process, facilities	Not required for trading importer.
Information on Each Hazardous Chemical	Product identifier, manufacturer’s information, composition, classification & labeling, physiochemical properties, toxicological properties, eco-toxicological properties, main uses and uses advised against, hazard properties, storage conditions, occupational exposure limits(*), transportation information and emergency response measures.	Occupational exposure limits are required for manufacturers. Physiochemical/ toxicological/eco-toxicological data is required for registration by default.  The source of toxicological and eco-toxicological data shall also be given unless certain exemption criteria are met.

 

Note: We can provide English application/registration forms at a small fee. Please contact us if you are interested in the English version of those 8 documents.

24h Emergency Telephone Number Service

According to SAWS's order 53, a copy of 24h emergency telephone number service agreement is required. Only a domestic service provider & number can be used at the moment, which means many international 24h emergency telephone number will not be accepted.

Transitional Period for Importers

SAWS's order 53 came into force on 1 Aug 2012. However, importers cannot register their hazardous chemicals right now because NRCC's system was not ready. 3 May 2013, The National Registration Centre for Chemicals of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) in China has launched a new online HazChem registration system on the first working day of May. According to NRCC's notice, Chinese importers of hazardous chemicals shall create their user account in NRCC's New Online HazChem Registration System  and start relevant registration work. Producers who wish to renew their certificates can continue using the old system.

To apply for a user account through the new HazChem registration system, please click here.

• http://register.nrcc.com.cn/EnterpriseManage/Login.aspx

More reading

• Decree 591 - Regulations on Safe Management of Hazardous Chemicals;
• MEP Order 22 - The Measures for Environmental Administration Registration of Hazardous Chemicals(2012);
• China SAWS Publishes Documents for Hazardous Chemicals Registration;
• Registration of the Import and Export of Toxic Chemicals in China (MEP Notice [2009] 113);