By Nadine He on Wednesday, 26 February 2014 in Chemical News

In response to increasing testing capacity issues and shortfalls in China’s management of environmental risks associated with chemicals, China’s MEP is planning to establish a national chemical lab and several regional chemical labs.

The national chemical lab will be established in the Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Center under the Ministry of Environment (SCC-MEP). The solid waste and Chemical management Center is a new center set up last year after the merger of two centers, namely the Chemical Registration Center and the National Center of Solid Waste Management. The new center will be responsible for oversight and coordination of other regional chemical labs. Labs with sufficient competency and capacity can apply for approval to SCC-MEP. In addition, the SCC-MEP is tasked with capacity building in hazard testing and risk assessment of chemicals and the development of a database for risk management of chemicals. Regional chemical labs will be responsible for providing physicochemical, toxicological and eco-toxicological data, assessment of environmental risks, advice on managing these risks and technical support.

The application requirements for regional labs are detailed in the attached document. Labs approved by the MEP are expected to meet the testing demands of China new chemical substance notification (China NCSN, a.k.a China REACH). At present only eco-toxicological testing institutes are managed by the MEP, however it can be expected that in the near future the MEP will designate its own approved testing institutes to provide physicochemical and toxicological data for China NCSN.