Last Updated:	June 7, 2010
Report Contents
-   Full Report -   Restricted Substance Reports -   Laws & Regulations -   Contacts -   Revision History

Introduction

In media accounts from August 3, 2009, the Chinese government closed a chemical plant after local residents in central Hunan Province protested against cadmium pollution, which reportedly killed two people and affected hundreds of others, media reported on Monday.

The media accounts indicate that tests conducted after the two local residents' deaths found that over 500 out of nearly 3,000 local residents also had elevated levels of cadmium in their urine.  It was also reported that vegetables grown along the Xiang River, on which the capital of Hunan Province, Changsha, depends for its drinking water, have also been found to contain high levels of cadmium, mercury and lead. 

Other recent reports include Hunan Province's announcement that it will temporarily cease production of iridium (used in the manufacture of liquid crystal displays) pending environmental reviews of the production processes.  See

Further, reports continue to report concerns with electronic waste ("e-waste") disassembly and disposal in China.  These include the August 28, 2009 report in "Science" (Vol. 325, August 28, 2009) on the China e-waste situation, indicating that "China has lurched from one toxic crisis to the next: Last year's major scandal was melamine in milk, whereas the latest is lead poisoning from smelters in two cities. But e-waste processing may end up dwarfing those incidents in severity and number of victims, scientists argue."

Chinese media reported on September 18, 2009 that hundreds of residents in a township in east China's Fujian Province gathered in front of the local government offices yesterday afternoon to protest a factory they believe caused lead poisoning in several children.

Earlier in 2010, the China Daily reported that "[a]t least 51 children in East China's Jiangsu province were found to have excessive levels of lead in their blood..., sounding new alarms for heavy metal pollution in China." ("Latest Incident Follows String of Similar Cases Found Last Year", China Daily, 1-6-10).

It is accounts like this, which appear frequently in the Chinese press, that underscore Chinese regulatory and other officials' sensitivity to the presence of certain substances in the environment.  Increasingly, this sensitivity includes the presence of certain substances in products, particularly where those products are processed (i.e., dismantled, treated and/or disposed of) in China. 

In the summaries in this section, we discuss key aspects of the legal framework for China's substance restriction requirements and programs.  At the statutory level, there is China's "Law on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution from Solid Waste" (Solid Waste Act), enacted in 1995 and amended in 2004, and "Clean Production Promotion Law," enacted in 2002, respectively establish a legal framework for substance restrictions in electrical and electronic products.  

Both of these statutes are referenced as "enabling laws" for the "Management Methods for Controlling Pollution by Electronic Information Products," often referred to as the "Management Methods," "China RoHS," "China RoHS regulation," or "Regulation." The reference to "China RoHS" arises from the rough similarity of this law to the European Directive restricting the use of hazardous substances (RoHS) in electrical and electric equipment (Directive 2002/95/EC). 

Although the China RoHS regulation does not specifically reference China's Circular Economy Promotion Law, enacted in 2008, we have included a summary of the Circular Economy Promotion Law in this overview because this statute also enables and furthers development of substance restriction regulatory measures in various forms.

As EIATRACK members are aware, the China RoHS regulation is the culmination of a multi-year and multi-phase rulemaking effort.  Significantly, the Regulation serves as a "framework regulation," enabled in particular by the Solid Waste Act and Clean Production Promotion Law referenced above, outlining Chinese legal measures that do or will apply to restricted substances in what are referred to as "electronic information products" (EIP). 

As is described in the measures in this overview, China RoHS covers labeling and information disclosure requirements for EIP.  China RoHS also covers materials restrictions and associated pre-market certification and testing requirements for certain EIP.   The materials restriction and associated pre-market certification and testing aspects of China RoHS have not yet been completed, although this report includes significant detail on the yet-to-be-completed substance restriction phase, which will be of significant interest to EIATRACK members.   In this respect, those members interested in the details concerning China's RoHS regulation and associated measures may wish to review that provision first, then move to the other parts of this substance restriction overview.

In addition to the key China RoHS measures, we also briefly touch upon in this restricted substances overview, China's laws governing toxic chemicals and new chemical notification.   These laws are historically not in the scope of EIATRACK coverage (as they deal with raw materials).  However, we believe this information will be appreciated by EIATRACK members and may be the subject of further, deeper expansions of EIATRACK content.  

Further, we observe that China has in place a number of mercury-focused restrictions affecting batteries.  These are detailed in the battery section of the EIATRACK pages and recently posted Q&A responses concerning these restrictions.

We also include in this overview a review of key Chinese measures addressing ozone-depleting substances, and a brief review of China's efforts to restrict exports of rare earth elements. 

The overview also includes a list of key Chinese agency acronyms and definitions and a list of agency contacts for the major regulatory programs set forth in the report.