Chemicals Management Policies in Europe and China

Based on the bilateral technical collaboration, this paper focuses on the recent laws, regulations, and progress in implementing chemical environmental management in the EU and China. In Europe this includes the REACH regulation, the CLP regulation and the EU Chemical Strategy for Sustainability. In China, the paper summarises China’s environmental law system, which provides the basis for legal enforcement of chemicals management, the Regulation on the Environmental Risk Assessment and Control of Chemical Substances, which is currently in draft form, and China’s evolving system for environmental risks assessment of chemical substances.

The paper also provides recommendations to enhance bilateral cooperation in this field, including in the areas of management policies and systems, risk assessment and management technologies, and awareness raising. Given the extensive European experience in developing systems for addressing environmental and health risks, together with China’s intensifying efforts at establishing reliable mechanisms to protect the environment and human health, there is substantial scope for deeper engagement on lessons learned.

The paper was produced in the framework of the EU-funded Project ‘EU-China Cooperation on Environment and Green Economy’.