There are some unreasonable aspects in the draft Law on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals
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This post was last edited by wx_KhkO2 on 2025-1-16 23:16. The draft Law on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals is currently open for comments, and I have found some aspects that are unreasonable. Article 35: It is more appropriate to change “equipment automatic control systems and safety instrument systems” to “equipment automatic control systems or safety instrument systems”. In scenarios where the amount of certain hazardous chemicals used is small or the operational risks are low, safety instruments are not necessary; only appropriate automatic control systems are sufficient. Article 38: It is more appropriate to change “enterprises that produce and store hazardous chemicals” to “enterprises that produce and store a certain quantity of hazardous chemicals”. Some companies store only small quantities of hazardous chemicals; for example, this warehouse has only 2 bags of 25 kg each of caustic soda, which is considered a hazardous chemical. Requiring it to undergo a safety assessment would be highly unreasonable, so the wording of the regulations needs to be changed. If you have any further comments on the Draft Law on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals, please submit them right away. Submit suggestions on the National People’s Congress website.
The two issues you pointed out are very insightful. Article 35: The proposed modifications to the automatic control systems and safety instrumented systems for equipment will enable better adaptation to production environments of different scales and risk levels, thereby avoiding excessive requirements for small-scale or low-risk enterprises. The proposed amendment to Article 38, by adding the phrase “enterprises that handle a certain quantity of hazardous chemicals,” can clarify the scope of entities to which the law applies, thereby avoiding imposing undue burdens on enterprises that store only small amounts of such chemicals. These suggestions can be forwarded to the relevant departments responsible for gathering feedback, to help improve the draft. .
Only qualitative assessment, no quantitative one – this is a hardship for businesses
Therefore, it is suggested that provisions be added to determine the storage volume at which an safety assessment is required, with such standards either established by existing rules or set forth separately.
Those who wish to submit suggestions should do so on the website of the National People’s Congress (http://www.npc.gov.cn/flcaw/). It ends on January 23rd; only a few days remain.
Article 56: “Individuals shall not purchase highly toxic chemicals (except for pesticides that are classified as highly toxic chemicals), nor hazardous chemicals that are easy to explode (except for household items such as food additives, medicines, veterinary drugs, and disinfectants that contain such hazardous chemicals).” ”, change to “Individuals (excluding self-employed persons) are not allowed to purchase highly toxic chemicals (except for pesticides that are classified as highly toxic chemicals) and explosives-prone hazardous chemicals (such as food additives, pharmaceuticals, veterinary drugs, disinfectants, and other household items that contain explosives-prone hazardous chemicals)” ； Except for small quantities purchased infrequently of commonly used explosive hazardous chemicals for daily use, individual business operations, or academic research purposes. “That’s reasonable. At the same time, Article 104 was also amended accordingly. Reason: 1. It should be clear that legitimate individual business owners are allowed to obtain highly toxic chemicals and hazardous chemicals that are easy to use for explosive purposes through proper legal procedures. Because in some production and business sites, highly toxic chemicals and explosives-prone hazardous chemicals are indeed used, but on a small scale, only as part of an individual entrepreneur’s business license ； For example, some shops that provide maintenance and cleaning services use a certain amount of nitric acid (a hazardous chemical that can be used to make explosives), while shops that deal in traditional Chinese medicine ingredients and engage in food preparation use sulfur. 2. Some explosives-prone hazardous chemicals such as nitric acid are used in small quantities in daily life ； Some individual business owners, such as those running metal craft shops, use a small amount ； Moreover, it is also used in middle school chemistry teaching, as some students learn on their own and conduct research. Therefore, individuals should be allowed to purchase commonly used, explosive-prone hazardous chemicals in small quantities and at low frequencies.