China adopted new chemical substance notification approach in 2003. It follows the principle of “prevention” and pay close attention on the unknown risks posed by new chemicals so as to have an effective management of them.

Human being’s ever-growing demand for new materials, products with special function have served as a propeller for the development and research of new chemical substances. However, new chemical substances of special properties usually present unpredictable risks to human beings and the global environment, of which little is known. Inorganic substances fall under this category. Based on the statistics published by MEP, by the end of Dec, 2013, over 90% new substances notified through simplified notification are organic substances, only less than 5% are inorganic substances. Furthermore, less than 2% substances notified through regular notification are inorganic substances (up to 2013/12/17, only 2 substances are inorganic in the 120 new chemical substances published on MEP website). Due to intrinsic difficulties inherent in notification of inorganic substances and the lack of real case experiences and guidance documents(such as particular testing data requirements), notification of inorganic substances turns out to be a thorny field for industries concerned.