On September 21, 2026, the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) issued the Notice on Soliciting Public Comments on the Measures for the Administration of Hazardous Chemicals Operation Permit (Revised Draft for Comments), releasing the revised draft together with the drafting explanation for public comment, with a comment deadline of October 22, 2026. The revision aims to implement the new requirements of the Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law (in force since May 1, 2026) for the operation stage of hazardous chemicals. It covers the classification of operation modes, the license-issuing levels, electronic permits, penalties, and other aspects, and the licensing and compliance requirements for hazardous chemicals operation, storage, and warehousing enterprises will be adjusted accordingly.
Revision Background
The current Measures for the Administration of the Permits for Trading in Hazardous Chemicals was promulgated and came into force in 2012 and was amended in 2015. The Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law has set out new requirements for the operation of hazardous chemicals, and some new problems have also been encountered in local implementation, so it is necessary to revise the Measures.
The revision work was initiated in 2024, and two revised drafts were formed in succession; in June 2026, the revised draft was further released for comments, and 297 comments were collected, of which 132 were adopted or partially adopted, and 165 were not adopted. In August 2026, the revised draft completed the macro-policy orientation consistency assessment in accordance with procedures.
Scope of Application and Operation Modes
The draft clarifies that the State applies a licensing system to the operation of hazardous chemicals, and that enterprises engaging in business activities involving hazardous chemicals produced by hazardous chemicals production enterprises or imported by import enterprises shall obtain a hazardous chemicals operation permit (hereinafter referred to as the operation permit) in accordance with the Measures.
These Measures apply to the operation (including warehousing operations) of hazardous chemicals listed in the China Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals; the disposal of discarded hazardous chemicals shall be governed by relevant laws, administrative regulations and State provisions on ecological and environmental protection; these Measures do not apply to the safety management of civil explosives, radioactive articles, nuclear energy materials, city gas, or hazardous chemicals used in national defense scientific research and production.
As regards operation modes, the draft specifies that the operation of hazardous chemicals includes non-storage operations, hazardous chemical shops, gas stations, storage operations (not constituting a major hazard installation), storage operations (constituting a major hazard installation), and warehousing operations; those that purchase hazardous chemicals for repackaging or filling, or dilute them with non-hazardous-chemical solvents before sale, shall follow these Measures.
Adjustment of License-Issuing Levels
In line with the latest requirements of the Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law, the draft applies the license administration principle of “enterprise application, two-level issuance, and territorial supervision”, and arranges the license-issuing levels as follows:
- Municipal-level issuing authorities: the emergency management department of the people’s government of a city divided into districts, or the issuing authority designated by the municipal people’s government, is responsible for the examination and issuance of operation permits for enterprises operating highly toxic chemicals, enterprises operating explosive precursor chemicals, central enterprises engaged in hazardous chemicals operation activities together with their provincial-level and city-level companies, and storage operations (constituting a major hazard installation) enterprises;
- County-level issuing authorities: the emergency management department of the county-level people’s government, or the issuing authority designated by the county-level people’s government, is responsible for the examination and issuance of operation permits for other enterprises within its administrative area; where no county-level issuing authority is established, the municipal-level issuing authority shall examine and issue the permits;
- Coordination rule: municipal-level issuing authorities shall not delegate the examination and issuance of operation permits under their responsibility to county-level issuing authorities; where the licensing items of the same enterprise fall under municipal- and county-level issuing authorities, or under different county-level issuing authorities, the municipal-level issuing authority shall uniformly examine and issue the permit.
Strengthened Licensing Conditions
The draft reiterates the basic application conditions for business premises, employee training and assessment, work safety rules and regulations, full-time work safety management personnel, and accident emergency response plans. It makes the following strengthened provisions for the storage stage:
- Highly toxic chemicals management: for operations involving the storage of highly toxic chemicals, management systems such as double-person acceptance, double-person custody, double-person dispatch, double locks and double ledgers shall be established, and the receipt and dispatch records shall be kept for no less than 3 years;
- Siting of storage facilities: for newly established storage operations (constituting a major hazard installation) and warehousing operations enterprises, the storage facilities shall be built within dedicated areas planned by local people’s governments for the storage of hazardous chemicals;
- Personnel qualifications: for storage operations (constituting a major hazard installation) enterprises, the principal responsible person and the full-time work safety management personnel shall hold a junior college degree or above in chemistry, chemical engineering, safety or other related majors, or an intermediate or higher professional title in chemical engineering;
- Safety facilities: storage operations (constituting a major hazard installation) enterprises shall establish a safety risk monitoring and early warning system for major hazard installations in accordance with relevant State provisions; where flammable, explosive, toxic or easily diffusing hazardous chemicals are stored, the facilities shall also comply with relevant national or industry standards on gas detection and alarm.
Digital Supervision and Electronic Permits
The draft clarifies that the electronic operation permit has the same legal effect as the paper operation permit, and the matters recorded on both are uniform; the certificate number shall comply with the provisions of the Electronic License — Hazardous Chemicals Operation Permit under the National Integrated Government Service Platform (C 0261) and shall be uniformly assigned by the issuing authority through the Hazardous Chemicals Operation Safety Supervision System. The drafting explanation also points out that this revision adds requirements on the information-based management of non-storage operation enterprises, and encourages relevant enterprises to voluntarily report their product information through information-based means.
On the enterprise side, the operation permit is valid for 3 years, and an enterprise that needs to continue engaging in hazardous chemicals operation shall submit a renewal application at least 3 months before the permit expires. Where all four conditions are met and the issuing authority consents — strictly abiding by laws and regulations, not lowering work safety conditions, no fatal accident or production safety accident with major social impact during the validity period, and entering information on the hazardous chemicals actually operated through the Hazardous Chemicals Operation Safety Supervision System at least once every six months — the applicant may omit the prescribed application documents when applying for renewal; enterprises engaged in storage operation of hazardous chemicals must also have reached Level 2 or above in the work safety standardization of hazardous chemicals enterprises. Where the issuing authority fails to decide within the prescribed time after accepting a renewal application, the renewal shall be deemed granted.
Detailed Penalties
The draft sets up a separate chapter on legal liability, establishing clearer penalty circumstances and ranges for illegal acts in the operation stage, with the main contents shown in the table below:
|
Violation |
Penalty for the Enterprise |
Penalty for Responsible Persons |
|
Operating hazardous chemicals without an operation permit, including continuing operation after the permit expires, operating beyond the permitted scope, operating in another operation mode, and engaging in warehousing operations by non-warehousing enterprises |
Ordered to cease the business activities, with confiscation of the hazardous chemicals illegally operated and the unlawful gains, and a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 but not more than RMB 500,000 |
— |
|
Enterprises engaged in storage operation of hazardous chemicals committing any of the seven categories of violations of the Hazardous Chemicals Safety Law, namely failing to inspect repeatedly used packaging and containers, failing to set up or routinely maintain safety facilities and equipment, failing to conduct periodic safety assessment, failing to store hazardous chemicals at dedicated storage sites, storage modes, methods or quantities not meeting the provisions, dedicated storage sites not meeting standard requirements, and failing to periodically test and inspect safety facilities and equipment |
Ordered to make rectification within a time limit, with a fine of not less than RMB 50,000 but not more than RMB 100,000; if no rectification is made within the time limit, ordered to suspend production and business for rectification until the relevant licenses are revoked, with a fine of not less than RMB 100,000 but not more than RMB 200,000 |
A fine of not less than RMB 20,000 but not more than RMB 50,000 |
|
Purchasing hazardous chemicals from enterprises illegally engaged in the production or operation of hazardous chemicals without a permit |
Ordered to make rectification within a time limit, with a fine of not less than RMB 200,000 but not more than RMB 500,000; if no rectification is made within the time limit, ordered to suspend business for rectification until the operation permit is revoked |
A fine of not less than RMB 50,000 but not more than RMB 100,000 |
|
Forging or altering operation permits, or renting out, lending or transferring operation permits, or using forged or altered operation permits |
A fine of not less than RMB 200,000 but not more than RMB 300,000, with confiscation of unlawful gains where any; cases constituting violations of public security administration shall be transferred to public security organs, and criminal liability shall be pursued where a crime is constituted |
— |
|
Failing to apply for a change as required in circumstances requiring a change (such as change of enterprise name, principal responsible person or registered address, or change of the permitted scope caused by storage facility construction projects) |
Ordered to make rectification within a time limit, with a fine of not more than RMB 10,000; if no application is still made after the time limit, a fine of not less than RMB 10,000 but not more than RMB 30,000 |
— |
In addition to the circumstances listed in the table above, the draft also provides that where an enterprise that has obtained an operation permit no longer meets the work safety conditions, it shall be ordered to make rectification within a time limit; if no rectification is made within the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business for rectification; if it still fails to meet the conditions after the suspension for rectification, its operation permit shall be revoked. The draft also makes clear that no entity or individual may, through the handling of an operation permit, illegally circumvent the legal requirement for new and expanded hazardous chemicals production construction projects to enter chemical industrial parks, or illegally handle operation permits for enterprises engaged in storage operation of hazardous chemicals that have not passed the safety condition review or the safety facility design review of hazardous chemicals construction projects.
Implementation Arrangements and Submission of Comments
Article 40 of the draft provides that these Measures shall come into force on ＿ ＿, 2026 (the effective date is left blank, to be specified upon official promulgation); after these Measures come into force, the Measures for the Administration of Hazardous Chemicals Operation Permit amended by the former State Administration of Work Safety on May 27, 2015 shall be repealed simultaneously.
As regards the submission of comments, the deadline for the public consultation is October 22, 2026. Commenters shall fill in the Comment Form (Attachment 3 to the Notice) and send it to 46779845@qq.com; the contact telephone number is 0532-83786556.
ChemRadar Insights
In view of this revision, enterprises engaged in the production, operation, storage, and warehousing of hazardous chemicals are advised to pay attention to the following:
- Verify the applicability of business activities: check the scope of application and the operation mode classification of the draft, and confirm whether the chemicals handled by the enterprise are listed in the Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals and which license type applies; enterprises engaged in repackaging, filling, or sales after dilution are likewise subject to operation permit administration;
- Assess the impact of the changes to license-issuing levels and conditions: for enterprises operating highly toxic chemicals, operating explosive precursor chemicals, or engaged in storage operations constituting a major hazard installation, license applications will be uniformly handled by the municipal-level issuing authority; enterprises planning to newly build storage facilities shall pay attention to the dedicated-area siting requirements, as well as the education or professional title requirements for the principal responsible person and the full-time work safety management personnel;
- Review compliance along the procurement chain: the draft makes clear that purchasing hazardous chemicals from enterprises illegally engaged in the production or operation of hazardous chemicals without a permit will be penalized; enterprises are advised to verify the operation permit qualifications and the permitted scope of their suppliers at the procurement stage, to prevent the transmission of upstream and downstream compliance risks;
- Submit comments promptly: this revision directly concerns the market access conditions of operation licensing and the in-process and post-event supervision arrangements; enterprises with comments or suggestions may submit them to the email address designated by MEM in the format of the official Comment Form before October 22, 2026.
CIRS Services
CIRS provides chemical compliance support for the Chinese market to chemical manufacturers and traders; relevant services include:
- SDS review
- Hazardous chemicals registration
- 24h national chemical accident emergency consultation hotline service
- SDS and label preparation in compliance with China GHS
- Data and classification search for chemicals listed in the Catalog of Hazardous Chemicals
